Superintendent Arlene Ackerman takes a bite of cafeteria pizza during a 2008 visit to Overbrook High School. A new policy means principals will be evaluated on the number of students eating breakfast at their schools. (Clem Murray / Staff / File)
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Breakfast at school now is on the principal
In some schools, participation is as low as 18 percent, while in others it's around 98 percent. Some schools showed as much as a 50 percent increase in breakfast participation from 2007 to 2008, while others showed a decrease of as much as 20 percent.
"Some schools need the push of accountability," said Kathy Fisher, PCCY family economic security associate. "We're really pleased the district is taking this important step to support kids' learning."
Testing periods
Fisher learned through a PCCY survey she conducted last winter that many Philadelphia principals appear to work harder to have their students eat breakfast in school during testing periods - when principals' performance is being judged - than they do during the rest of the year.
Principals and teachers face intense pressure from the school district's central administration for students to perform well on the tests, which measure academic progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
At the time of the survey, Michael Masch, the district's chief business officer, acknowledged that "there is evidence that principals make breakfast a priority during testing."
He added, "If we can do it during testing, we ought to be able to do it all the time."
Masch's assertion will now be put into practice.
"Making principals accountable for breakfast is critical," said Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, a Washington nonprofit that works to eradicate hunger. "School breakfast is so important that it makes sense to hold people in the system responsible."
Weill said there were no reliable statistics on how many other U.S. school districts grade principals on breakfast.
Just how food will be served in Philadelphia schools is up to principals. Studies show, however, that more children eat when breakfast is served in the first class of the day.
Last year, the vast majority of the district's 267 schools served food in their cafeterias before the school day began, Grasela said. Just 47 served them in classrooms, he said.
Typically, principals have resisted such service, saying it detracted from instructional time.
But in the spring, the Pennsylvania Department of Education ruled that if students throughout the state eat breakfast in their first class with a teacher present, it will be counted as instructional time.
Fresh from his triumph tying principal performance to breakfast, Stein added, "First-class service should be required throughout the school system."
This summer, principals received their schools' first-ever report cards, based on goals from the 2008-09 school year. Those first report cards - which did not include the breakfast goal - will be made public this month, officials said.
The breakfast initiative represents a "fine-tuning" of the report cards, which were imposed by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, a district spokesman said.
Contact staff writer Alfred Lubrano at 215-854-4969 or alubrano@phillynews.com.
Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.
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