School Breakfast Report Shows Areas of Need in New Jersey

But New Jersey ranks 46th in the nation, according to the New Jersey Food For Thought School Breakfast Report, with many areas of improvement to be had.

Camden County ranked eighth out of the state’s 21 counties when it comes to participation in the program, with 38 percent of the children eligible for free or reduced lunches also receiving school breakfast.

That figure is up from 33 percent in 2012, according to the report; however, a large number of students do no participate in the program, and local school districts will feel the impact when it comes to federal reimbursement money.

Thirty-six percent of district kids eligible?

In Collingswood, only 19 percent of those eligible to receive breakfast are taking advantage of the program; 36 percent of the total district population is eligible for the program, according to the report.

Collingswood schools could potentially receive as much as $144,722 in federal reimbursement dollars from the program, according to the report, with 547 of 677 eligible students not receiving breakfast from the school.

(The report states that calculation represents the amount of federal dollars that districts would receive if every eligible child received a school breakfast all 180 days of the school year, and notes that "these funds can only be used for breakfast expenses.") 

On Monday, Collingswood Superintendent Scott Oswald said he couldn't comment on the figures in the report (which was released on Tuesday). 

But he questioned whether the possibility of an additional $144,722 would be "additional money in hand" or "additional money that would be offset by additional costs for product and services."

"ACNJ is a group whose priority is school breakfast," Oswald told Patch in an e-mail. "We have similar groups in the state whose priorities range from school safety and security to personalized learning plans to arts education and increasing accessibility to after-school programs for all kids. 

"Standing alone, all of these are good initiatives," he said. "But one thing I learned early in my career is that when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. If we adopt the priority of ACNJ, then we will be eliminating or downgrading other priorities."

Oswald said that Collingswood offers school breakfasts to students in six of seven elementary schools as well as in Oaklyn. 

"Our elementary principals have pushed all of our students to arrive at school by 8:15 a.m. so that learning can begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.," Oswald said.

"Breakfast is available to our students during that time. We have solutions in place to ensure that no student has to begin his or her day hungry."

Nearly 300,000 children nationwide

“School breakfast addresses a major barrier to learning,” said Advocates for Children of New Jersey Executive Director Cecilia Zalkind in a prepared statement. 

“School districts should be commended for stepping up to meet the school breakfast challenge. Unfortunately, there is much work to do. About 300,000 children are still missing out on that all-important morning meal at school.”

In all, 20,700 eligible children in Camden county did not take advantage of the program, according to the report. If all eligible students were enrolled, school districts could collect $6.4 million in additional reimbursement money to provide breakfast, according to the report.

Camden Academy Charter High School and the Brooklawn, Woodlynne, Clementon and Winslow school districts were listed as “Breakfast Underachievers,” due to their low participation and high child poverty levels, according to the report.

New Jersey remains among the lowest-ranked states in the country despite seeing a 35 percent increase in the number of students receiving breakfast at school—up from about 136,000 children in October 2010 to about 184,000 in April 2013, according to the report.

The report only evaluates school districts in which more than 20 percent of the student population is eligible for the program.