Editor’s Note: This is the second story in a three-part series about how Mansfield City Schools is addressing the needs of students beyond the classroom. The first story was published Dec. 22.
MANSFIELD – Lauren Moran knows children learn best when they’re well-fed. As food services manager for Mansfield City Schools, she guarantees students have access to two healthy meals five days a week.
But after they go home on Friday, there are no such guarantees.
“Sometimes we do have kids who come in on Monday and they’re just ravenous at breakfast,” she said.
“I often worry about when we’re on holiday breaks – How are they doing? You see a big jump in attendance that first day back. That could be for any number of reasons, but I would think that getting two meals might be a small part of that.”
In November, MCS began partnering with the Children’s Hunger Alliance, a statewide nonprofit organization, to address that need. Each week, CHA provides packs of shelf-stable meals for students at Prospect Elementary to take home on Friday afternoon.
Each kit includes one dinner, two breakfasts and two lunches. The meals include prepackaged items that require no preparation, so students have easy access to meals over the weekend.
“There are things that kids would be excited about,” Moran said. “The breakfast can be granola bars, cereal bowl packs, that kind of thing.”
Lunches and dinners might include items like beef jerky, cheese sticks and sandwich crackers. Each meal has either a fruit cup or fruit juice.
The kits are shelf-stable for approximately one month without refrigeration. CHA donates enough meal packs for every child on the school’s “direct certification list” — about 200 in total.
Children on the direct certification list automatically qualify for free school meals without a household application based on a number of possible factors, including foster care status, homelessness or family enrollment in a government benefits program like Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Prospect has an enrollment of about 220 students.
Moran said they tend to have enough packs for every child who wants to take one home; normal distribution hovers between 170 and 180 each week. Students on the third grade leadership team distribute them to their classmates each Friday afternoon.
The pilot is going so well that the district is extending the program to Sherman Elementary after winter break. The first meal kit distribution will be on Jan. 7.
Moran hopes to expand the program to every building in the district.
“The Prospect and Sherman are two of our highest-needs buildings,” Moran said. “It’ll be interesting when we get to maybe some more like Woodland or Spanish Immersion where the need isn’t quite as high to see what the participation is like.”
While the issue is more concentrated in some buildings than others, hunger is a concern across the district.
The United States Department of Agriculture has waived income requirements for free school lunch reimbursements during the pandemic. But years before COVID-19, MCS qualified for universal free meal access based on the district’s percentage of economically disadvantaged students.
“When we were collecting income applications (for school meal assistance) — the last year would have been 2017 I believe — the entire district was at about 83 percent free and reduced qualification,” Moran said.
“Even with all the data that you’re collecting, you don’t capture everybody so it could be a little bit higher than that. Unfortunately, with a pandemic, I think it’s probably gotten a little worse.”
Moran said the ease and accessibility of the meal box program is an added benefit for families, since transportation to food pantries and free meal sites can be a challenge.
“Getting the food to them seems to be a big thing. The fact that we can hand it to them as they walk out the door and you’re not saying ‘Hey, come get this from us’ — I’ve seen that as a big plus,” she said. “You don’t always know if they have the means to get there. Maybe a big brother is home watching siblings and there’s no way to get anyplace like that.”
Numerous studies show that food insecurity can negatively impact all aspects of a child’s life.
Children’s HealthWatch findings show an increased risk for developmental delays among food insecure infants and toddlers. Young children in food insecure households are more likely to suffer from ailments like stomach aches, headaches and colds.
Other studies have made a connection between food insecurity and low test scores, memory impairment and lower social skills.
A report by FeedingAmerica states that hunger has negative ramifications on children’s health, education and workforce and job readiness.
Government regulations for school lunches and feeding programs stipulate certain nutritional guidelines. Every child must take a fruit from the lunch line during breakfast and a fruit or vegetable during lunch.
“They’re not always super excited about it. But occasionally, I notice that they try it and then all of a sudden it’s gone on their tray,” Moran said.
Last year, MCS ran a summer feeding program through the USDA, which reimbursed food distribution sites for the cost.
Moran said she anticipates continuing that program during the summer of 2022.
“Anything we can do to feed more kids more days of the week is our goal with this.”