Growing up, I always looked forward to the magic of a snow day. My mom was a teacher, and snow days meant sledding with breaks for hot cocoa and baking with my mom, sister, and cousins. Years later, as a teacher myself, I took advantage of snow days to sleep in, relax, and catch up on grading papers or designing lessons for my students. Of course, I took breaks to bake, cook, and drink hot cocoa.
My naiveté about the joy of snow days was shattered the first day back from a large winter storm that closed school in my large urban school district for a few days. When I arrived to school the first day back, I encountered one of my third- grade students and his five brothers and sisters waiting for the cafeteria to open.
I was shocked. This family was usually late to school or just barely on time. After I told the children how excited I was to see them at school early and eager to resume learning, my student told me, quietly, that they were most looking forward to eating a meal. They had arrived early that day because they had little to eat during the days school was closed.
That moment changed my life as a teacher and an advocate.
Up until that moment, I had seen this boy as a difficult student, often misbehaving and off-task. Understanding that he and his siblings depended on school for more than learning changed my mindset. I realized that school was a place where students should have access to what they needed to succeed.
My experience with this student was not isolated; through my work as a teacher and researcher, I’ve witnessed a similar story play out in schools across the country, schools with students of every income level. Regardless of zip code, so many children depend on school for more than just learning; school is a place where students are secure in knowing that they will get enough to eat each day. Taking care of students’ basic needs, like nutrition, lets them be hungry to learn.
For the 13 million kids across our country who face hunger, school is a place they count on for their basic needs. At school, students can count on breakfast, lunch, and afterschool meals.
Lately I’ve been encouraged by the schools like Bloomer Elementary School in Iowa and many others that have remained open on snow days to make sure kids have access to food.
It’s up to us to make sure kids - like that third-grader and his family - have enough to eat while they’re in school and in the time in between.
