Blackford County Schools have been eligible for the school year 2020-2021 for a program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) which means that all the students in Blackford County can
have the option to get free breakfast every day. I spoke to the Food Services Director, Sheryl Martin, about the new free breakfast options at Blackford County schools.
I spoke to the Food Service Director, and she said many important things about the new free breakfast options at the Blackford County schools. I interviewed Sheryl Martin, and she answered some of my questions for her. My first question was how do the lunch ladies choose what food goes into every breakfast meal. Sheryl Martin told me that they can't primarily pick what gets to go in the breakfast, they have to follow the meal requirements under the National School Breakfast Program from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Some things in breakfast have to be served by law, like vegetables, fruits, protein, milk, and grains.
I also asked her about how many students get breakfast every day. She told me that “Average breakfast is 160 compared to 60 last year at BJSHS (Blackford Junior-Senior High School).” That means that more students get the free breakfast option over the hot breakfast that they used to serve last year.
I then asked about how many leftovers of breakfast there are every morning. Sheryl Martin told me that they only serve how much they think they are going to give so there isn’t a lot of wastes. But if they do have extras, there is no waste because all the breakfasts are wrapped individually.
When the lunch ladies do a lot for the school by making us lunch, and now breakfast this year! I wanted to ask Sheryl Martin how long it took to make breakfast each morning. She told me that it takes about an hour and a half to prepare breakfast each morning, but that time could always go up if more kids decided to start getting free breakfast.
Since the school has served kinds of breakfast, hot breakfast, and free breakfast, I wanted to know which breakfast they preferred. Sheryl would like to serve students hot breakfast every day, but since they eat in the classrooms in the morning that isn’t an option at the moment. COVID-19 has changed many things for breakfast
Sheryl Martin also told me that Blackford County gets their breakfast from an organization called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). We got qualified for the program because the Food Service Office got in touch with them. To be able to do the Community Eligibility Provision, one or more schools have to have an identified student percentage of 40% or greater for the 2019-2020 school year. The identified information comes from the state agency. The schools must offer free breakfast and lunch to everyone in the school building, and at no cost and cover any cost above the federal reimbursement received with non-Federal funds. CEP has to give a 4-year successive school years, and they can give an option annually to switch back to traditional breakfast and lunch menu counting and claims ways.
Next and finally, I wanted to know what company Blackford County Schools get their free meals from. Sheryl Martin told me that they don’t get their free meals from anywhere, and they get them themselves. The lunch ladies prepare and serve all the food in the morning, and for lunch. “It is just as it has always been, but now we have made it so all students in our school system get free meals,” Sheryl Martin told me. If COVID-19 ever calms down, hopefully, we can get the Blackford students back into the cafeteria to have free breakfast and lunch
Sheryl Martin would also like to thank all the employees of the Food Service Departments in each of the Blackford Schools for the very tremendous work they have performed each day. The lunch ladies are short on help this year, but what help they have had, has made Sheryl very proud. The lunch ladies always give their all to serve each of the Blackford County Schools. So, if you see any lunch ladies today, or just see them when you get your breakfast or lunch in the morning, make sure to thank them and tell them that you appreciate them for all they do for the school!
In conclusion, Sheryl Martin seems to want to have kids back into the cafeteria as soon as she possibly can, but with COVID-19, that is hard to do. More students choose to eat breakfast, this year compared to last year. I hope that students remain to eat the free breakfast that the school is supplying for the students of Blackford County Schools. As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!