Wisconsin Breakfast Challenge

The 2009 Wisconsin School Breakfast Challenge Winners Announced

Press Release
The six schools / districts named the winners are:
- CEO Leadership Academy - Started a breakfast program in the 08-09 school year with great success. They attribute their success to getting the local community involved. The Food Service Director had an agreement with the convenience store across the street to not open until after school starts. A hot breakfast with fresh fruit is served daily before school starts. School Enrollment: 211
- Mequon-Thiensville School District - Increased participation by 110% from the 07-08 SY by adding new menu items. They started a breakfast program in March of 09 at the Middle School and new last year they offered an action station once a week at the high school where students can get made to order eggs and omelets. A value meal option was also marketed to attract more students to take a reimbursable meal. District Enrollment: 3926
- Monona Grove School District - Increased participation by 213% from the 07-08 SY by switching from a traditional before school model to a mid-morning nutrition break. District Enrollment: 2885
- St. Peter Immanuel Lutheran - Started a successful breakfast program in the 08-09 school year. Breakfast is offered in the classroom for 4k-1st graders and as a traditional breakfast for 2nd-8th graders. Breakfast is a cold breakfast served in boxes. School Enrollment: 143
- Stoughton Area School District - Increased participation by 59% from the 07-08 SY. They stated their biggest success was at the high school where breakfast marketing was increased. Teachers shared with students during class time what food items made a reimbursable meal. Students were also allowed to eat breakfast during their early morning study halls. District Enrollment: 3432
- Union Grove Joint #1 School District - Increased participation by 249% from the 07-08 SY by offering hot breakfast 3 days a week and serving cold only two days per week. District Enrollment: 705

Congratulations to all schools that participated in the 2008-2009 Wisconsin School Breakfast Challenge.

About the Challenge

What was the Challenge? The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Extension challenged all schools to either implement a school breakfast program if they did not offer one or to increase school breakfast participation by 50% in existing school breakfast buildings.
When was the Challenge Announced? At the beginning of the 08-09 (Original Press Release)
What was the goal? For every student to have access to a nutritious breakfast and to encourage more students to participate
How did we enter? Every district and private school was automatically entered into the challenge
How were schools assessed for the challenge?
- Schools that had existing breakfast programs and had them the prior year: As a measure of increased participation, the SBP Average Daily Participation (ADP) for the 2007-2008 school year was compared to that of the 2008-2009 school year.
  - School Breakfast meals in public schools for the 2007-2008 school year
  - School Breakfast meals in private schools for the 2007-2008 school year
- Schools that did not offer breakfast or did not offer in the prior year: If a district or private school did not have a SBP in 2007-08, a baseline benchmark of 20% was used (state averages indicate that approximately 20% of the students participating in the lunch program also participate in the SBP). Therefore, schools were challenged to increase their participation 50% over the 20% baseline.
How did schools succeed in the challenge? To succeed at this challenge your school must have increased breakfast participation by 50% of your baseline (see above for your baseline information). Six schools with the highest increase were selected as winners of the challenge. The selection of schools was tiered based on enrollment so that not all large or small schools were selected (two schools selected per tier):
- Enrollment of 400 or less
- Enrollment of 401 to 3,000
- Enrollment of 3,001 or more
What is the prize? All schools/districts who met the challenge were recognized by DPI and received an award certificate. The six schools/districts with the highest increase, listed above, were chosen as winners and receive a banner to display in each school with a breakfast program, as well as a $1000 grant to enhance the school breakfast program.