MCS received a $4,303 Universal Classroom Breakfast Startup Grant from the Nutrition Consortium of New York State, through funding from a court approved settlement of antitrust claims brought by the Office of the New York State Attorney General. With this funding, the district will purchase equipment, supplies, and food in order to get the trial program started.

Cafeteria manager Sabine Curry said the school could have opted to offer the program to the entire school, but decided to test the program out with the K-4 students first. She said the K-4 students are isolated in their own wing so that is why they chose that group of kids, which consists of approximately 125 students.

Curry said she thought it would be best to start the program with the younger kids because she believes if the school can teach them good habits early on, they will hopefully be more likely to continue using them.

``I would eventually love to offer to entire school,’’ said Curry. "The program can only be a good thing. A lot of kids will eat if it’s free.’’

MCS K-4 students will have their meals delivered directly to the classroom instead of having them go to the cafeteria.

Curry said the program is set up to serve breakfast in the classrooms because testing is being done to see if it is better than having the kids go to the cafeteria. She said making breakfast a part of the school day by moving it from the cafeteria to the classroom will increase the number of students who participate in the School Breakfast Program.

``It will make it a more seamless transition,’’ she said.

Curry said 25 percent of the K-4 students already take advantage of the breakfast program offered to the entire school. She said she believes if all the kids’ peers are eating in the morning, then it will seem like the thing to do for others.

A recent universal classroom breakfast pilot program in New York State resulted in improved student attentiveness, reduced absenteeism and tardiness, and fewer disciplinary referrals and visits to the nurse.

Curry said she also believes the program will take a load off of parents, especially those with large families. She said she has ``been there once,’’ and wished she didn’t have to worry about the extra hustle and bustle of making breakfast in the mornings when she was getting her children ready to go off to school.

Teachers may not like the extra mess in the classrooms, said Curry. However, she said the teachers are not being asked to run the program. She said there will be aides that will serve and clean up.

Curry said she knows that there are kids that are going without breakfast in the morning and she hopes the program will solve that problem.

Curry said she has been monitoring the likes and dislikes of the K-4 students who have been eating morning breakfast in the past and says most are cereal lovers. She said the students who participate in the breakfast program will be offered a choice of a warm meal, such as a breakfast sandwich, or cereal. They will also be offered juice, fruit and milk, according to Curry.

This year’s breakfast will be 90 cents to those not in grades K-4 The purchase price for milk or juice will be 30 cents and lunches will cost $1.55.

Applications for free and reduced price school meals and income eligibility guidelines can be found on the MCS website. For more information on the school lunch and breakfast programs call 286-7721 ext. 8405.