Starting this fall, students in the Whitehall-Coplay School District will be able to receive breakfast before starting their school days.

Dr. Lorie Hackett, assistant superintendent of the school district, said in an interview that district officials made the decision to offer breakfast after considering the rising number of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches, which currently includes 54 percent of the district.

“I would say [hunger] is a concern of ours,” Hackett said. “We felt that the breakfast program would address the needs of those kids. There are a lot of studies that show students who eat a healthy breakfast and lunch perform better academically in the classroom.”

Breakfasts will be served beginning Oct. 5 in all five schools – Gockley, Steckel, Zephyr, middle school and high school. It will cost $0.30 for students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals and $1.60 for those who don’t qualify. The schools will offer cereals, fresh fruit, grain snacks, juice and milk. The middle and high schools will additionally offer mini bagels and cream cheese before class.

This is the last in the Fighting Hunger series concerning the issue in Whitehall and Coplay. The Whitehall-Coplay Area CTC Hunger Initiative, part of the local Communities that Care group, has been working to alleviate hunger in the community. The local movement began when Shari Noctor saw the data and made the hunger initiative a priority.

“[The breakfast program] is a big push forward in my opinion,” Noctor said. “Kudos to the school district for taking a stand to help their kids in education.”

Eating breakfast can help a person meet daily nutritional requirements and maintain a healthy weight, in addition to improving concentration, according to Mayo Clinic and many other sources.

Tina Koren, Whitehall-Coplay School Board president, said the school district cannot hold parents accountable for making sure the students are fed. The breakfast program is the best way the school district can ensure that students are fed, to avoid the risk of having “unhealthy, tired and distracted students,” she said.

“As a school board, we are concerned, as we believe in-school is the only meal some students receive during the day,” she said. “We have students who come to school on an empty stomach and cannot concentrate during the day.”

Koren added that with the increase in the number of students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals at school, the board hopes the program will prevent the “hunger crisis” from growing in the school district.

Leah Saliby, an English teacher at Whitehall-Coplay Middle School, said people in the community don’t know that their neighbors could be struggling to provide food for their families even if they are employed. She said people don’t realize that some have to make “terrible choices” between paying bills and buying food. She is pleased with the district’s decision to offer breakfast.

“I think that shows a huge improvement in the hunger issue ... I’m just so glad they’re doing that,” Saliby said.