The DeKalb County School System will be offering free breakfast to all students throughout the next school year.
The Board of Education Thursday night gave its approval for “Universal Breakfast”.
“The School Nutrition Department asks permission to implement what’s called the Universal Free Breakfast. It is a program where all DeKalb County school students will receive a free breakfast for all of the 2014-15 school year. We’ll pilot for a year. It has been successful in other school systems so I feel like it will be here as well. We at least want to do it for this year and see how it goes. It’s really on a year to year basis,” said Stephanie Dyer, School Nutrition Supervisor.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby stressed that the program is on a year to year basis and might not last forever. “I think it is great that we are doing this but in the future if things change it doesn’t mean this will last forever. If requirements change then this will change also. If the (current) mandates and requirements stay the same then we think we’ll be able to do this for several years. But it is not a promise,” said Director Willoughby.
According to Dyer, the School Nutrition Department meets all criteria and is in good financial standing to fund this program.