East Valley schools now participate in Breakfast After the Bell! We are continuing to offer traditional breakfast to all of our students as we usually do. Now, we are also offering all students a chance to have breakfast for an additional 10 minutes after the morning bell rings.

The Washington Kids Ready to Learn Act of 2018 expanded breakfast opportunities by requiring Breakfast After the Bell Programs in certain schools. The goal of The Washington Kids Ready to Learn Act is to remove barriers to school breakfast participation and to ensure that all students have access to a morning meal each day.

East Valley SD will offer breakfast after the bell (BAB) to students at all grade levels. Students are encouraged to participate in traditional breakfast or BAB every morning.

• Traditional breakfast: We will continue offering students breakfast like we always have & students participating in traditional breakfast may enjoy their meal in the cafeteria before the morning bell rings.
• Breakfast after the bell: Once the morning bell rings the breakfast service line will remain open for an additional 10 minutes with the same menu choices that were being offered during traditional breakfast. Students that receive their meal after the bell rings must take their meal back to their classroom and enjoy it there.

Time spent participating in (BAB) counts as instructional time as long as students can engage in educational activity. Instructional time and consuming breakfast need to happen concurrently. For example, classes often use this time to go over homework, read, or take attendance while students are consuming breakfast in the classroom.

There are a few rules we must follow when offering our students BAB:

• Students that try to receive more than one breakfast per day will be charged for a second breakfast or turned away.
• All students must be freely encouraged to participate in BAB.
• Examples of students not being freely encouraged:

• • • • Students arriving right before the bell were prohibited or discouraged from getting BAB. (this is not allowed even late students must be encouraged to participate in BAB)
      • BAB is only served to late students. (this is not allowed, even early students are allowed to participate in breakfast after the bell)
      • If a school continues to offer traditional breakfast-Students who arrive early are required to go to traditional breakfast and/or are prohibited from utilizing BAB.(this is not allowed, all students may participate in BAB even ones that arrive at school early)

Resources and Guidance:

• OSPI Breakfast After the Bell Reference Sheet
• OSPI School Breakfast Program
• Breakfast After the Bell Implementation Guide

Please feel free to contact the food service office with any questions or concerns.