Elk City, OK – Elk City Public Schools is continuing to provide free meals to all students, a program Superintendent Mike Sparks says is helping the district take care of students both inside and outside the classroom.

The district offers free breakfast and lunch, along with an after-school meal available from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m.

"It's just what school ought to be," Sparks said. "We ought to be about taking care of kids, and that's what's going on here."

Sparks said the impact of the meal program extends beyond making sure students have enough to eat. Since the program began, school officials have noticed improvements during the afternoon, including fewer behavioral issues and better experiences for students during bus rides home.

The district is also receiving statewide attention for the program and its connection to student performance.

Sparks and Mrs. Dyson have been invited to speak at the Hunger Free Oklahoma statewide conference in Tulsa in October. The organization visited Elk City last spring and examined the district's free meal program alongside its academic results.

"When you look at when we started the free meals and look at our academic outcomes and how those two have played hand-in-hand," Sparks said, the results caught the organization's attention and led to the invitation to present Elk City's approach at the conference.

Sparks credited much of the program's success to district employees who make an extra effort to ensure students have access to meals.

At Elk City Middle School, for example, the cafeteria is located separately from the main building. Cafeteria employees bring breakfast to the main building to make it easier for students to participate. Other staff members also take breakfast directly to students who might otherwise skip it because of morning activities.

Sparks said those individual efforts are part of a larger commitment throughout the district.

"Everybody's in this for a greater cause," Sparks said, pointing to employees working in classrooms, cafeterias and facilities across the district. "That's why I think we're being so successful."

For Sparks, the combination of student services, academics and staff involvement has created plenty of optimism within the district.

"It's a good time to be in the brown and white, for sure," he said.

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