craigdailypress.com

For a $1 a day, Moffat County students will be able to pick up a "grab-and-go" breakfast.

The Moffat County School District's food service department was awarded a $20,000 grant that will allow the district to buy the necessary equipment. At $1 each, the meals -- which will cost the district about 62 cents -- will pay for themselves and the personnel to transport and serve them.

"We see this as a real bonus to our students," Superintendent Pete Bergmann said Thursday. "There's a need, and if we could do this without going into the red, it would be a great benefit to the students."

Food Service Director Judy Baker said the program will be fairly easy to institute in the elementary schools, where students have about 10 minutes between the time the bus drops them off and class begins. It will be a little more difficult for students at the intermediate and middle schools because students generally have only about five minutes.

Baker is still working with school principals and the transportation department to find a solution.

About 20 students in each school need to take advantage of the program to make it self-sustaining -- a number Bergmann doesn't think will be a problem anywhere.

Right now, the plan is to serve a cold breakfast, but the equipment will be on hand to grow to a hot breakfast as demand increases.

Students who qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch also will qualify for a free or reduced-price breakfast.

Christina M. Currie can be reached at 824-7031 or ccurrie@craigdailypress.com.