Parent involvement is a crucial element that contributes to a successful breakfast program. BreakfastFirst Campaign believes the importance of parent input and leadership in making changes on both the local and statewide level to create a healthy school breakfast environment for all of California students.

There are many ways for parents to get involved in the BreakfastFirst Campaign. First and foremost, parents need to know if their local schools provide breakfast. Currently over 1,400 public schools in California do not have the School Breakfast Program.

Click here to find out if your local schools offer the School Breakfast Program.

Now that you know if your local schools do or do not offer the School Breakfast Program, there are action steps all of us can take to promote healthy breakfast for all of California schools.

Here’s what you can do if your local schools do not offer the School Breakfast Program:

Contact the principal of the school and ask why they are not offering the School Breakfast Program. Here’s a link to a FAQ which can help to facilitate the breakfast conversation with the principal or other school administrators.

If the school principal is interested in the School Breakfast Program, here are toolkits you can provide to the principal or you can direct the principal to the Breakfast First website (www.breakfastfirst.org).

If your school principal is not interested in the School Breakfast Program but you would like to continue your efforts, you can contact a School board member or your local PTA to discuss how to promote the School Breakfast Program.

Here’s what you can do if you local schools do offer the School Breakfast Program:

Find out what they are serving for breakfast. Often times, you can find a menu on-line (district website) or you can call the school and find out what the school is serving.

Find out if the school district has breakfast or school meal nutrition policy. Find out if the school is abiding by the nutrition policy. If not, talk to the school principal, school food director, or school board members and find out why.