SANTA ANA : 12 Schools Resume Breakfast Program

When school starts Monday, the smell of French toast and sausage will permeate the air in cafeterias at 12 schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District.

After a decade-long hiatus, the district is resuming its breakfast program in an effort to get students to begin their day on a full stomach.

Free and reduced-price meals will be available to students from low-income families, and all other students can buy breakfast for less than a dollar.

The morning meals will be more than cornflakes and Cheerios, said Carol Godfrey, director of food services.

“Hopefully, we’re going to be pretty creative in planning these meals,” she said. “We plan on offering lots of variety.”

In addition to such traditional breakfast fare as pancakes, waffles and scrambled eggs, the district will be serving up a chorizo-and-egg burrito, breakfast pizza, peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins and Belgian waffles.

But the most unusual entree is probably the breakfast egg roll, an item that looks like a traditional egg roll but is filled with scrambled eggs and ham.

“It’s really quite different,” Godfrey admitted, “but we think it will go over well with the kids.”

Breakfast will be served at the district’s four high schools and seven intermediate schools and at Diamond Elementary School. Godfrey said the program will gradually be expanded into additional elementary schools.