Each school day between 1,600 and 1,700 Mansfield City Schools students have breakfast in school cafeterias. The federally-funded meals are free to all children regardless of family income.

The Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture underwrites the nonprofit breakfast program, administered statewide by the Ohio Department of Education.

Breakfast offerings are basic – no omelets or bacon and eggs from the grill – but they must meet federal nutrition requirements. “We must serve two grains, at least one-half cup of fruit or juice and milk,” said food service manager Lauren Ellsworth. “A student may have a full fruit serving by selecting juice and a fruit cup.”

Breakfast items are designed to require limited preparation and there’s a different menu for each day. Children have a limited amount of time to eat and get to class.

Grain servings, which must be whole grains, come in the form of cereal, mini pancakes or waffles and always-popular Goldfish. Heat-and-serve items also include Flapsticks (sausage and pancake on a stick) and breakfast pizza.

“Egg-and-sausage sliders are popular,” said Erin Mudra, assistant food service manager. “And the kids like yogurt and granola, which we began serving a year or two ago.”

Children may choose between 1 percent whole milk or fat-free chocolate or strawberry.

While breakfasts are free to all, lunches are priced at $2.75 for children up to sixth grade and $3 for those in grades seven through 12. However, free and reduced-price lunches are provided based on annual family income. Students who qualify for reduced-price lunches pay 40 cents.

Mansfield City Schools – which serves 2,500 to 2,600 lunches daily — has a poverty rate, based on federal guidelines, of approximately 84 percent, although benefits of the school breakfast program go beyond just feeding hungry children, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service. “Students who eat school breakfast have improved math scores, attendance, punctuality and decreased anxiety, depression and hyperactivity,” USDA said on its web site.

William Cochran, M.D., a past member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition, agrees. “Breakfast is thought to be the most important meal of the day,” he said on the web site healthychildren.org. “As the first meal, it gets the body going for the rest of the day.”

According to USDA, 14.57 million children participated in the school breakfast program in 2016.

Mansfield City Schools’ monthly breakfast and lunch menus can be found on the home page of the district web site, tygerpride.com

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