The silver award brings with it a $2,500 cash prize that will be reinvested in the Lapeer Community Schools breakfast program. The award was handed out by State School Superintendent Mike Flanagan at the September Michigan Association of School Administrator’s Fall Conference in Traverse City.
District officials honored the LCS Food Services staff for its winning ways at its Oct. 7 meeting of the Lapeer Community Schools Board of Education.
“The goal of the program was to increase school breakfast participation by 50%,” said Dining Services Director Scott Smith. “This past school year we increased participation by 64%, which according to the Michigan Department of Education was ‘way up there.’” Twelve school districts earned awards this year for increasing participation in the school breakfast program: 4 overall champions (2-year-awards), 4 gold awards and 4 silver awards.
The Superintendent’s Breakfast Challenge is sponsored by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan. Over the past two years, 206 school districts met Flanagan’s challenge. The 52,145,702 school breakfasts served statewide during the 2009-10 school year marked a 30% increase from the 2007-08 school year.
The school breakfast program is important because research shows that students who eat a healthy breakfast improve their academic achievement, have fewer health issues, behave better in class and are more attentive.
Photo cutline: On hand for the presentation were (from left) Lapeer Community Schools Food Service Director Scott Smith, Assistant Food Services Director Jill McLaughlin, cook helper Emma Bugaski, head cooks Diane Ritter, Mary Holbrook and Jennifer Putnam; Food Services driver Steven Ritter and head cook Edie Hogan. (Photo courtesy Jeff Hogan)
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