Resources for School Nutrition Directors
School Nutrition Directors play an essential role in the lives of students in their district. Many students depend on school meals multiple times a day – including that first, critical meal. School nutrition staff greet students each day with healthy, delicious food. This food fills students’ bellies and helps them focus on what is important – learning and having fun with their friends – not hunger. As a School Nutrition Director, you play a unique and important role in ensuring students can access this food without barriers or complications.
Many students do not participate in school breakfast because of factors beyond their control – such as bus schedules – or because of the stigma associated with eating in the cafeteria. Breakfast After the Bell (BAB) is a serving model that makes breakfast a part of the school day. By implementing a BAB program in your district, you are promoting a model that readily enables all students to participate in breakfast. You are supporting students eating together in their classrooms as a community. You are helping remove stigma from the breakfast program. You are supporting teachers and principals by ensuring that students get their basic needs met and are able to learn more effectively. Your backing of BAB is a win for students and schools.
The positive impacts of BAB do not end there. BAB models are the most effective way to boost breakfast participation. By implementing a BAB program in your district, you are ensuring increased revenue and a stronger nutrition department. Your backing of BAB is a win for the district.
This toolkit is here to provide you with everything you need to get a successful BAB program up and running in your district.
Resources for School Nutrition Directors
Choosing the Right Breakfast Model: Learn about the different Breakfast After the Bell models and determine which models suit your community best.
Pre-Implementation Checklist: Preparing for implementation can make the transition from traditional cafeteria breakfast to Breakfast After the Bell smoother and increase the chances of maintaining a successful breakfast program. Allowing for adaptations during early implementation can help improve your program along the way. This resource provides a detailed checklist that schools can use to help prepare for Breakfast After the Bell implementation.
Breakfast After the Bell Rollout Timelines: The Breakfast in the Classroom and Grab and Go to the Classroom Rollout Timelines outline action steps school stakeholders can take to help prepare for the launch of Breakfast After the Bell. The rollout timelines span both long-term action steps and short-term action steps — starting at 8 weeks before implementation and counting down each week until launch.
Menu Planning
There are many things to consider when building a Breakfast After the Bell menu. Food must meet USDA guidelines and be appealing to kids. Food must also be easily transportable and easy to consume in the classroom. These sample menus and menu planning tools can help you build your menu and succeed in the kitchen as well as with kids.
Equipment Tips: Determining the equipment needs of your Breakfast After the Bell program can be a daunting process. Let this resource help guide you in choosing what equipment would be useful for whichever Breakfast After the Bell model you choose.
Financial Management: The financial impact of expanding school breakfast can be calculated so you have an idea how it will affect the budget. Here are multiple resources that schools can use to determine how expanding school breakfast will affect the revenue and overall operation of breakfast, and analyze variable costs versus fixed costs.
Participation Tips And Student Surveys: High breakfast participation is the result of many different aspects of the breakfast program running smoothly, from the logistics of the program, to gaining buy-in from the student body. These resources showcase tips and tactics schools can use to increase breakfast participation.
Gaining Buy-in from District Stakeholders: For Breakfast After the Bell to be successful, multiple district and school stakeholders need to be on board. Use these resources to engage stakeholders and gain buy-in.
Grant Opportunity Information: These grant opportunities can help schools purchase equipment and other classroom preparation items to start-up their Breakfast After the Bell program.
Get the Word Out to Your Staff and Community: Using these communication materials like banners, flyers, posters and more will help you build a network of champions in your school and community.
Hear from School Nutrition Directors
Breakfast Champions Are Here to Help: In this brief video, you’ll hear from School Nutrition Directors from Fairfax County, Virginia; El Monte City, California; Montgomery Country, Maryland; and Norfolk, Virginia who are committed to feeding kids and eager to share their tips to make breakfast during the school day a success.
Peoria Elementary School Erases the First Obstacle to Learning – Hunger: Hear from Peoria food services staff about their success with breakfast in the classroom.