(1)“Breakfast after the bell” means a breakfast that is offered to students after the beginning of the school day. Examples of breakfast after the bell models include, but are not limited to:

• (a)“Grab and go,” where easy-to-eat breakfast foods are available for students to take at the start of the school day or in between morning classes;

• (b)“Second chance breakfast,” where breakfast foods are available during recess, a nutrition break, or later in the morning, for students who are not hungry first thing in the morning, or who arrive late to school; and

• (c)“Breakfast in the classroom,” where breakfast is served in the classroom, often during homeroom or first period.

(2)“Eligible for free or reduced-price meals” means a student who is eligible under the national school lunch program or school breakfast program to receive lunch or breakfast at no cost to the student or at a reduced cost to the student.

(3)“High-needs school” means any public school: (a) That has enrollment of seventy percent or more students eligible for free or reduced-price meals in the prior school year; or (b) that is using provision two of the national school lunch act or the community eligibility provision under section 104(a) of the federal healthy, hunger-free kids act of 2010 to provide universal meals and that has a claiming percentage for free or reduced-price meals of seventy percent or more.

(a)In accordance with RCW 28A.235.230 and except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, beginning in the 2019-20 school year, each high-needs school shall offer breakfast after the bell to each student and provide adequate time for students to consume the offered food.

(b)Public schools that are not obligated by this section to offer breakfast after the bell are encouraged to do so. Nothing in this section is intended to prevent a high-needs school from implementing a breakfast after the bell program before the 2019-20 school year.

This page addresses strategies to provide breakfast at schools