With no comments offered during their sec-
ond public hearing on the plan, the members
of the Sarasota County School Board voted
unanimously on Aug. 5 to implement a
Universal Free Breakfast Program at 10 dis-
trict schools where the number of students
eligible for free or reduced-price meals is 80
percent of the total enrollment or higher.
Those schools are Alta Vista, Emma E.
Booker, Gocio, Tuttle and Wilkinson elemen-
tary schools; Booker Middle School; Triad
North and Triad South; and both the elemen-
tary and middle levels of the Suncoast School
for Innovative Studies.
During their July 22 meeting, Beverly Girard,
the district's director of Food and Nutrition
Services, discussed the program with the
board. Afterward, the board held the first of
the two required public hearings on imple-
menting the program at the start of the 2014-15
school year.
Funding is available from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Girard said at the time.
None of the board members offered fur-
ther comments on the program before the
Aug. 5 vote.
Rachel Brown Hackney
UNIVERSAL FREE BREAKFAST PROGRAM WINS BOARD APPROVAL
Sarasota County School Board members meet with Todd Bowden, the district's executive director of
career, technical and adult education (second from left), and Deputy Superintendent Scott Lempe
(third from left) on June 17. Photo by Rachel Hackney
Sarasota News Leader August 8 & 15, 2014 Page 65
