Breakfast program too large to manage, says Glen Stewart school

Glen Stewart PrimarySchool is asking parents to help manage the size of its breakfast program.

The school issued a notification to parents Tuesdaysaying about half of its 630 students use the breakfast program each weekday.

That's creating problems getting kids to class on time, the school said, often causing them to lose 15 or 20 minutes of instructionaltime.

Parents are being asked to tell their children, if they've already eaten breakfast, not to attend the program.

Tuesday's notice says it'sintended to provide "clarification and context" following recent questions.

A notice datedSept. 1, but removed Tuesday, said the breakfast program is "not to support social connections" and only children "who have breakfast needs from home" should participate.

The wording of that initial notification to parents got the attention of New Democratic Leader Mike Redmond.

'We were shocked'

In a news release, Redmondcalledthe initial phrasing "distasteful" and "stigmatizing."

"We were shocked, disappointed, and quite frankly appalled that you would send that kind of message," said Redmond, who said he has children attending the school.

"I couldn't get my head around how an administrator thought that this was a good idea or a good public policy."

The school's rewordednotice Tuesday added that no child will ever be turned away from the breakfast program, nor will they be asked why they are there.

Redmond said changes to the language in the updated notice are an improvement, but said the issue remainsthe number of children accessing the program. TheNDP instead wantsa fully-funded universal breakfast and lunch program for all Island children

In itsnotice the school said if the number of students using the breakfast program doesn't decrease, the program may have to change to a grab-and-go option that students can get in their classrooms.

No one from Glen Stewart Primarywas available to speak with CBC News on Tuesday.

The director of the Public Schools Branch, Parker Grimmer, told CBC News that schools always want the best for children, and this was a challenging situation.

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