The Houston Independent School District officially kicked off its First Class Breakfast program Tuesday. Under the innovative program, breakfast will be delivered to students in their classrooms in the morning. The program covers elementary and middle-school students only.

Normally, about 38 percent of kids eat breakfast, Julie Spreckelmeyer of HISD and Aramark said. But breakfast is brought directly to the students, Spreckelmeyer said more than 80 percent of them will eat it.

The program is being paid for by the federal government. No income requirements are needed for students to receive breakfast. In fact, a few years ago HISD dropped the income requirement and allowed any student who showed up to the cafeteria before school to receive breakfast.

Students who have breakfast do better on TAKS tests, are better behaved and less likely to snack later in the day, thus curbing childhood obesity rates, Spreckelmeyer said.

HISD will phase in the classroom breakfast program at a rate of ten schools per week. By September, the phase-in will be complete and more than 130,000 students will be served each day. Those numbers will make HISD the national record holder for serving breakfasts to students in classrooms, district officials said. High school students may continue to receive breakfast in the cafeteria.

The First Class Breakfast program has been tested on 43 HISD campuses so far. A total of 220 elementary and middle schools will be included in the program, district officials said.

The meals are prepared at HISD’s gigantic food service facility in northeast Houston. The breakfast menu will include healthy options made with whole grains and few preservatives, like whole-grain biscuits and muffins, scrambled eggs with turkey sausage and whole-grain kolaches, Spreckelmeyer said. Beverages will either be 100-percent fruit juice or skim milk, she said.

HISD’s Breakfast Program Receives Dairy MAX Grant:

A good, nutritious breakfast is a key factor in students’ health and academic success. It gives them the fuel they need to learn to their full potential, and a child with an empty stomach can’t concentrate on instruction and is more susceptible to bad behavior. HISD’s campaign to make sure all children get their school day off to a good start received a generous boost on December 10, 2009, with the Board of Education’s acceptance of $100,000 from Dairy MAX, a nonprofit organization that promotes dairy products.

For more than 12 years, Dairy MAX Expanding Breakfast grants have been available to schools participating in the National School Breakfast Program. The grants help schools set up alternative ways of serving students breakfast that increase the number of children eating breakfast. Thanks to Dairy MAX’s grant to HISD, the first 100 schools to implement the First Class Breakfast Program of breakfast served in the classroom will share in the $100,000 donation. If the program is successful, more grant funds may be available in 2010.

“I want to thank Dairy MAX for its outstanding support for HISD’s efforts to make sure students get a good breakfast every day,” said Superintendent of Schools Terry B. Grier.