Holt Public Schools will offer free breakfast for all students beginning in January.
Holt is participating in the Universal Breakfast Program, a state initiative that allows students at qualifying schools to receive one free breakfast each day.
The program includes students who don’t already qualify for free or reduced breakfast.
There’s about 5,000 eligible students in Holt Public Schools.
District food services director Evan Robertson says good nutrition directly impacts a student’s performance and their ability to retain information.
“It’ll help their education, and the other great thing too is that it will also help to experience different foods for kids, too, which is great,” Robertson said.
Robertson says during the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal waiver provided free breakfast and lunch for all public school students in America.
That waiver was not renewed at the start of the current school year, and he says teachers have already seen issues related to hunger.
“But, during that time of COVID, if there was one positive during that time, when we did come back to in-person learning, when everybody could get a meal every day for free, it made a big difference,” he added.
The free breakfast program begins Jan. 3.
Two elementary schools and one middle school in the district currently provide free breakfast and lunch to students under a separate program.