It’s National School Breakfast Week and the Power Panther is on tour in DMPS to drive home the point. PP doesn’t speak. His shirt says it all: EAT SMART! PLAY HARD! And he’s blue, not black like the panther that’s making all of the noise at movie box offices right now. But he’s a sensation in his own right at district elementary schools where he’s busy handing out hugs, high fives and stickers reading LAUNCH YOUR DAY WITH BREAKFAST as kids make their way through the chow line before school.
The DMPS Food and Nutrition Department now provides all elementary students with free breakfast through a federally funded program. Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) makes it possible for all students to start their days with the right fuel for school.
Wednesday at South Union students filled their breakfast bags with juice, milk, cheese sticks, pears and cereal in the cafeteria and took their takeout with them to class like sports cars hitting the road after filling up with gas.
(Psst! It’s also Read Across America Week which celebrates the birthday of Dr. Seuss. That too is in evidence at district elementary schools, where teachers and students might look like Cats in Hats or Things 1 & 2, but not to the point where Green Eggs & Ham made the breakfast menu.)
Power Panther needed a hearty breakfast throughout the week to keep up the brisk pace that scheduled him at two schools each morning, Monday through Thursday: Lovejoy & Pleasant Hill; Windsor & Madison; South Union & Cattell; Edmunds & Willard.
At the Thursday stops, a hot new item was introduced, courtesy of DMPS Food & Nutrition Chef Chad Taylor. Egg-a-Doodle-Doo, a “savory egg and cheese muffin” could become a popular choice now that it’s available.
BIC participation rates range between 60-85% depending on the building, according to district Food Service Dietitian Anita Turczynski.
Maybe this latest addition to the menu will boost those numbers even higher.
Everybody crow: “Egg-a-Doodle-Doo!”
