Rise, shine, eat breakfast

It’s National School Breakfast Week, and the Austin Independent School District wants to make sure every kid starts the day with a healthy meal. New data suggests that making school breakfast available after the bell ensures that more kids will actually eat a nutritious breakfast. So the school district will be offering free breakfasts – served in the classroom – to over 25,000 students daily. The menus at Austin school cafeterias feature many items cooked from scratch such as organic granola and breakfast pastries, and at least three times a week, locally baked bread and tortillas and fresh fruit. Anneliese Tanner, AISD executive director of nutrition, said in the press release, “A healthy breakfast is a great way to ensure students are getting the best education they can. National School Breakfast Week is the perfect time for us to further educate parents and students about the benefits, like higher test scores and better attendance records, of good nutrition.”