Schools mulling portable breakfast concept

McCOOK, Neb. -- A "grab and go" kind of breakfast may soon be offered at McCook School district.

It's a concept the school board has been looking at since last year. With working parents and kids having early practices/meetings at school, getting kids out the door with something in their stomach can be a challenge. Currently, breakfast is offered at all the schools in the McCook School District, before classes begin, with prices waived or lowered for low income households. The grab and go breakfast would replace that, with meals still prepared using federal guidelines but easier to transport, such as waffle sticks, fruit or omelette wraps. The food would be offered at a kiosk and students would take want they want and bring it with them to the classroom.

Principals from the the McCook School District have been visiting area schools to see how it's been implemented, said McCook School superintendent Grant Norgaard at the regular school board meeting Monday night. The grab and go breakfast will be offered through the schools' current lunch/breakfast provider, Sodexo and could be implemented by the fourth quarter.

Also mentioned at Monday's meeting were "No Worksheet Wednesdays" and coding classes at the McCook Junior High.

Designed to give students a more active role in learning, "No Worksheet Wednesdays" is being used at Central and McCook Elementary. On those days, instead of worksheets, students will engage in some kind of physical manipulation exercise in several subjects, such as putting together a "fraction bar" or participating in some kind of game. Wednesday's are also the day students are dismissed at 2 p.m.

And at the McCook Junior High, students are being introduced to computer coding. Using a program specifically designed for students, coding is telling the computer what to do by using keystrokes and used for graphics and web content. It's another way students can learn how to think ahead and problem solve, Superintendent Norgaard said.

The only action item at Monday's regular board meeting was the approval of the resignation of the FFA instructor at McCook High School.

The McCook School Board unanimously approved without comment the resignation of Steve Drevet, of Lorimar, Iowa, who the board hired last year. In his Nov. 15 letter to McCook High School principal Jeff Gross, Drevet wrote his resignation would be effective at the end of his contract this year, with "verbal stipulations we discussed." Norgaard said today those stipulations consisted of Drevet being free to leave for other employment if he desired.

After the regular meeting, the board met in closed session to discuss two items: ongoing negotiations with the local teachers' union for salary/benefits for next year and potential litigation concerning the Nebraska State Education Association, the union that represents teachers.