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Breakfast at school should be available

Should it be the responsibility of public schools to make sure that children have a good breakfast?

No. It should be the parents'.

But is a good breakfast important enough to a child that the school should provide it if no one else does?

Yes.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Ohio ranks near the bottom among states in the number of schools that participate in a federally funded breakfast program, according to a report released Tuesday by anti-hunger activists.

It was reported that nearly 166,000 children statewide participate in the program, which provides free or reduced-price meals at 1,847 schools, the Washington-based Food Research and Action Center reported.

The 45 percent of schools that participate in both the breakfast and lunch programs is fifth-worst in the United States. The national average is 74 percent.

Some schools are serving breakfasts in this area. The others should.

Youngsters in too many instances get from home to school without the nourishment needed for minds and bodies to meet the demands of a morning of school work.

It could be argued that public schools already are involved in too many facets of children's lives that are only obliquely related to education.

But to whom would the argument be aimed? The schools' involvement in those endeavors has been in response to a demand for such services from the people in their communities.

Serving breakfast is no more distant from the pursuit of academics than is the operation of an expensive and time consuming athletic program.

Starting the day right for children -- even if the percentage participating is small -- is a service that public schools need to be doing in 1999.