COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL MAY 10, 2017
11A
Lincoln 'fl exes' its breakfast muscle for students
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
The baker starts at 5:30 in
the morning. The manager is
on the clock by 6. By 10:30
a.m. they’ve served over 400
children. And that’s before the
lunch crew rolls in.
“We can get them in and out
in under fi ve minutes,” said Tra-
cy Peterson. She leads the caf-
eteria staff at Lincoln Middle
School and she’s just fi nished a
Flex rush.
Students at Lincoln have the
opportunity to use a fl ex peri-
od to catch up on school work,
seek extra help or take part in
an elective period. Or, they can
eat breakfast. Before the break-
fast option was instituted, Pe-
terson and her team served just
over 100 students at an earlier
scheduled breakfast. Now, they
routinely see 300 fl ood in with
their blue and yellow tickets at
10 a.m. looking for cheese rolls
(the number one seller) and bis-
cuits and gravy (a close second).
“You can really see a differ-
ence,” said Lincoln Vice Prin-
cipal Emily Wren. “Some kids
don’t eat breakfast because it’s
too early but now they have that
chance,” she said.
Flex time is the only time
visitors may see students roam-
ing the halls, food and drink in
hand. What was once a standard
no-no, for fear of increasing jan-
itorial workloads, is now a wel-
comed sign. It means students
are going to class; fed.
“The blue tickets, those kids
go fi rst,” said councilor Tom
Partridge, pointing out the lucky
few jumping the line and ap-
pearing on the other side with a
coveted cheese roll.
Blue slips are an easy way
for staff to determine which
students should be sitting in the
cafeteria enjoying their break-
fast and which students should
be taking advantage of the one-
time free pass to carry food in
the hallways—on their way
back to class.
“If a student has been re-
quested by a teacher, maybe
they missed an assignment or
the teacher thinks they need ex-
tra time in that subject, they’ll
be given a blue slip,” Partridge
said. “And that means they can
get their food and go.” How-
ever, because middle school-
ers will be middle schoolers, it
doesn’t always work that way.
Often, staff may fi nd a blue tick-
et holder at the back of the long
line, trying to buy a precious
few free moments.
“Because teachers know how
quickly the blue slips are al-
lowed to go through the line, if a
student is fi ve or 10 minutes late
to class, they know they were at
the back of the line,” Partridge
said. “And they’re not allowed
to come back. Not forever, just
a few days, maybe.”
The consequence is a de-
terrent but in a school that has
a poverty rate that hovers be-
tween 60 and 70 percent, it’s
not one staff likes to dole out
very often. In fact, Partridge is
attempting to include more time
for students to partake in the
second breakfast period.
Currently, Lincoln has fl ex
breakfast Tuesday through
Friday. However, for students
who many not eat well over
the weekend, a lack of Mon-
day morning fl ex breakfast can
sting.
“I’m trying to convince them
to steal a few minutes from here
and there,” Partridge said.
For kids who do take advan-
tage of the fl ex time, the meal
is a good one. Peterson’s staff
bakes its goods fresh every
morning and for them, it’s about
the kids.
“I’m surprised more of the
free kids don’t take advantage,”
she said. “That would be my
goal. Is to see more of the free
kids eating. But what we do,
this is for the kids.”
Lincoln Middle School is feeding 400 children before lunch thanks to a new Flex program that allows for a second
breakfast period and a the opportunity for students to bring their food to classes they may need extra help in.
Wyden
Continued
from A1
Dear PeaceHealth Nurses,
Every day, you touch the lives of our patients, families and communities.
Nurses are the heart of healthy communities. You form the very heart and soul
of PeaceHealth’s healing ministry.
Every day, your commitment to compassionate care is uncompromising.
It takes a very special type of person to make the commitment to be a nurse.
As frontline care providers, you focus relentlessly on improving patient
experience and on the delivery of top-notch care.
Every day, you help us be the best partner in every
community we serve.
Your meticulous work and commitment to providing safe, high quality
care, every touch, every time enables us to deliver the best value to
our partners and communities.
Every day, we are humbled by your talent, dedication,
empathy and advocacy.
We are truly blessed to have you as part of our healthcare ministry.
We are committed to being a great place to work, fostering your
personal and professional well-being and growth.
Every day, we are grateful for our 4,715 exceptional
PeaceHealth nurses.
It is an honor to serve alongside each one of you.
Joyfully,
Victoria King
iv ÕÀÃ}"vwViÀ
PeaceHealth
Marsha Crosswhite
Director of Nursing
PeaceHealth Cottage Grove
Community Medical Center
In Celebration of National Nurses Week,
We Thank You
Act. Questions ranged
from whether Wyden
would commit to fi ght-
ing the effort to pass the
House's health care bill
now that it was headed
to the Senate to request-
ing the senator confi rm
he would support a sin-
gle-payer system.
"I respect Senator Sand-
ers and I will take a look
at his bill," Wyden said,
noting that he hadn't seen
the proposed legislation
has of yet.
He also expressed his
doubt that a single-payer
bill would make its way
through the republican
controlled Congress.
"We can either try to get a
bill passed Donald Trump,
Paul Ryan and Mitch
McConnell or residents
in Oregon, a progressive
state can walk out of this
hall right now and contact
their representatives and
let them know they want
to use what I wrote to do
it right now," Wyden said.
Other questions posed
to the senator included
the 'Know before you go'
movement that would
allow college-bound kids
to see graduation rates
and student loan averages
before choosing a college
and the ongoing investiga-
tion into Russia. He noted,
"As long as I'm your man
on Russia, this investi-
gation will not be swept
under the rug."
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