Title
Declaring March 6-10, 2017, National School Breakfast Week in Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, Free school breakfast is a significant component in the health and academic achievement of students; and
WHEREAS, The school breakfast program helps improve students' concentration, class participation, and fosters a better overall learning environment in the classroom; and
WHEREAS, Studies have shown that consuming breakfast reduces tardiness and disciplinary referrals; and
WHEREAS, Studies also suggest that children who eat breakfast have better nutrition which leads to healthier food choices throughout the day and healthier body weights; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District has provided these very important benefits to thousands of Philadelphia children by serving 50,159 breakfasts and 86,006 lunches in November 2016, the latest figures available; and
WHEREAS, 22.4 percent of Philadelphia children are food insecure, which means they have limited or uncertain access to adequate food; and
WHEREAS, Many Philadelphia children are highly dependent upon school meals as demonstrated by the fact that when a January 2016 snowstorm shut down schools for two days, phones at the City's anti-hunger organizations rang frequently due to families with school-aged children calling for food; and
WHEREAS, The School Breakfast Program can help to ensure that all children who experience food insecurity and their counterparts become healthier and achieve their academic potential; and
WHEREAS, In 1991, advocates and the School District won federal approval to ensure that Philadelphia students in high-poverty schools are automatically eligible for free school breakfast, so no student would be discriminated against due to their family's socioeconomic status or face barriers to access; and
WHEREAS, When this "community eligibility" status was threatened in 2010, despite being widely regarded as a model that should be replicated, a coalition...
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