The Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice has monitored the ranking for years, and has been working with the DOE to improve those numbers.

“We were working with the schools food services branch to implement kind of innovative breakfast models,” said Daniela Spoto, director of anti-hunger initiatives at Hawaiʻi Appleseed.

“Things like breakfast in the classroom or Grab & Go breakfast where kids could grab it before school and go into their classroom. And we were piloting this at a few school systems with successful results.”

Spoto says it was exciting to see schools had to changing to a grab-and-go model due to the pandemic. She is hopeful when students return to the classrooms that schools will continue to offer grab-and-go breakfasts.