KENMORE, N.Y. — As many kids across our region go back to school this week, the state is making sure they have the proper tools to have a good learning experience in the classroom.
The Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District is part of a new program that will help provide free meals for an additional 294,000 students across the state. It'll provide lunch and breakfast for all students in the district.
A press event was held talking about how this will help students and parents.
"You can't learn, if you don't' have a full stomach. Ask any teacher, and they'll tell you a hungry kid is highly a distracted kid. So a child who did not have breakfast, can't really focus on their math. They're thinking about lunch, so for families struggling to meet ends meet, food insecurity is a problem and it has a definite ripple effect on education," Senator Sean Ryan said.
Right now, leaders are working with the USDA on getting more free meals for the 2024 - 2025 school year.