York, PA — Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera plans to visit William Penn Senior High School tomorrow. Rivera will recognize the York City school for its 2016 School Breakfast Challenge performance.
In the second year of the challenge, William Penn High School increased its breakfast participation by 14.3 percent, the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger reported. That increase earned York High recognition in the high school category among participating schools.
According to the challenge’s website, “National data makes clear that Pennsylvania still has a long way to go to ensure that eligible students start their day with the fuel they need to learn.”
The School Breakfast Scorecard 2015, issued by the national Food Research and Action Center, ranked Pennsylvania 41st nationally. Statewide, 45 percent of low-income children, eat school lunch and school breakfast.
Of the nearly 630 schools that entered the challenge statewide, 69 percent increased or maintained school breakfast participation (comparing fall 2014 to fall 2015), Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. Of those that increased or maintained participation, an average of 13,100 additional Pennsylvania students received breakfast each day.
