File photo Wheeling Park High School soon will offer second-chance breakfasts via vending machine.

WHEELING – Wheeling Park High School students soon will be snatching a second chance at breakfast from vending machines filled with approved items.

Ohio County Schools provides free breakfast and lunch to students, and state law also requires they offer a “second chance” breakfast to students that’s available after first and second periods.

Usually, these items are “grab and go” food items like yogurt or “Parkuteries” meat, cheese and vegetable snacks. But distributing the items to students throughout the school has been a problem, explained Renee Griffin, child nutrition director for Ohio County Schools.

The Ohio County Board of Education unanimously agreed recently to the purchase of two vending machines from U-Select-It at $17,000 each, or $34,000. Each is able to hold 75 meals.

Principal Meredith Dailer will decide where there the vending machines will be placed in the school, according to Griffin.

“We are wanting to try something out of the box,” she said. “We are always trying to find ways to increase participation.”

Griffin explained she learned of the idea of the vending machine for breakfast items while attending the national conference for School Nutrition Association over the summer.

“I thought it would be a great venture at Ohio County Schools, particularly at the high school where we have so many students,” she said.

The school initially tried offering second-chance breakfasts in the former media center where they would sit and eat, but this meant they were out of their classrooms and away from instruction.

“Even though breakfast does count as actual education time, we still want them in their classroom and learning,” Griffin said.

The nutrition staff next attempted to take the items in carts to areas throughout the high school to distribute them. While many students were taking food, it involved a major effort by the staff each day when the resources could be used elsewhere, she said.

“It wasn’t the ideal model for high school, and we had excessive waste,” Griffin explained. None of that was benefitting anybody, and the teachers were complaining. We could donate the extra food, but it was a lot.”

The school was serving between 900 and 1,000 breakfasts – both traditional and second chance – at that time, according to Griffin. Then the focus switched back to traditional breakfasts at the start of the day.

The difference is that fewer than 400 breakfasts are now being served each day.

“Students still say they would like to eat at a later time, and that they’re not as hungry when they start the school day,” Griffin continued. “They get hungrier after the start of the day as they get to second period.”

“And I know kids are wanting to eat sometime before actual lunch. These vending machines are a way that we can provide a reimbursable meal.”

Students can use their id to sign in to the machine to obtain the free second chance breakfast.

All transactions will be tracked, and students wouldn’t be permitted to get a second meal.

“There is no transaction with money. The students don’t have to stand in line, and they don’t have to show their ID. It’s just grab and go,” Griffin said.

The vending machines are refrigerated, and the process “seems to be safe and quick,” Griffin told board members.

No other schools in West Virginia presently use the food vending machines.

Griffin said her staff will be able to stock the machines each day, and that the needed labor already is in force.

Most of the food would not be perishable “within a couple days,” and only good “grab and go” items would be served.

“If we see it is really taking off, we may come back to buy some more (vending machines),” she said. “We figure starting with a couple will be a way to satisfy the need for which students are asking.”

She noted the machines will be turned off later in the day as the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t allow you to sell what are called “breakfast meals” after 2 p.m.

The USDA reimburses Ohio County Schools the costs for free breakfast and lunches.

While Griffin doesn’t see cost savings, she does see more opportunities for federal reimbursements. She sees additional meals being served, and that more reimbursements will cover the cost of the vending machines.