Classroom hunger holding back Pittsburg students

PITTSBURG, Kan. —  The Wesley House food pantry in Pittsburg was utilized more than 13,000 times in the year 2025, marking an almost 30 percent increase in usage from the previous year. What is even more striking about this statistic is that one in three Wesley House food pantry recipients were children. 

Children across the United States face the reality of food insecurity every day, even right here in Southeast Kansas.  

“I think people are shocked that just here in Pittsburg, there’s so much hunger,” said Summer Warren, director of nutritional services for Pittsburg USD 250. “Food instability is huge in Southeast Kansas.”

For children in school, it can be difficult to learn or concentrate on an empty stomach. Teachers are often told that hungry kids can’t learn, and many educators will say that this remains true. 

Different kids, different responses to hunger

Hunger affects school-aged children in many ways. Even children who have their basic needs met can have their classroom performance affected by their peers who may be going without them or may be facing food insecurity in some way. 

Whether it is through physical or emotional issues, hunger can cause many kinds of distress and stigmas for school-aged children.  

Issues that can be caused by hunger can include irritability, stomach pain and loss of concentration. When these issues are affecting one child, they can also affect the other children around them. 

“Our school nurse sees a lot of students going down there with stomach issues of, ‘oh my belly hurts,’” said Jen Falletti, Sparkwheel coordinator for Lakeside Elementary. “There’s lots of tiredness happening, kids who can’t concentrate, they’re not able to focus, things like that.”

“There’s irritability.” Falletti added. “We have one student who you can tell when they become super hungry because they get really irritated, and so we actually provide extra snacks for her throughout the day because it just affects her that much.”  

Though these issues seem to stay more concentrated in the younger age groups, older kids can very much still be affected by the adverse effects of hunger and food instability, even if they are more reluctant to show it. 

“It depends on the age of the kid,” said Stephanie Withrow, a fifth-grade teacher at George Nettles Elementary. “I’ve worked with all different ages. I work with fifth grade right now, and I’m sure they don’t want to say, ‘I’m frustrated because I’m hungry,’ but I think when a student gets agitated, it affects all the others around them.”  

Fixing the problem

Throughout the United States, schools are slowly adopting more free and reduced cost lunch programs that make it easier for all school-aged children to gain access to food every day, without the worry of lunch debt or lacking funds for food. 

A free school lunch and breakfast program called the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, has been used in Pittsburg’s USD 250. This program provides students with at least two meals a day. 

“It provides meals for kids who are right there on the line but just don’t qualify,” Warren said.  “Also, it removes the stigma because if everyone’s eating, nobody knows who’s only eating because it’s free. There is that stigma around school lunches, so that helps remove it.”  

There are other programs that help provide children in the Pittsburg area with a more stable source of food outside of school hours, as well, such as the Wesley House, the Kansas Food Bank and Sparkwheel. 

Sparkwheel provides children throughout USD 250 with food bags weekly to keep them fed, even when food may not be a guarantee at home. 

“The way that we identified those (in need) is we asked teachers and our lunchroom supervisors to identity students who show signs of chronic hungriness. We based it off that, and then we reach out to those families and ask if they would like that support,” Falletti said. 

Many educators will even provide snacks for their students in their classrooms from their own personal funds, though this doesn’t always prove easy. Withrow said that one of the challenges of providing snacks for her classroom involved being cognizant of allergies that her students may have. 

For breaks like holidays and summer, there are also other programs in place that help children get fed. 

During breaks, Sparkwheel sends extra bags home with children so that they have a higher chance of having their needs met. For example, when winter break is three weeks long, there will be three bags sent home with the child. 

There are also programs in place for the summer. Around the beginning of June, summer feedings begin and go through the end of July, providing two meals a day for those who need it. 

The summer feeding program also is not sign-up based.  

“They don’t have to be involved in any programming,” Warren said. “They just have to show up and look 18 or younger.” 

Making a difference

Overall, teachers say the programs are working, even if they aren’t perfect. 

“I feel like students have plenty of food sources while at school and plenty of options on how to bed, but I do not know of any resources we give to families to help outside of school hours,” said Brendan Finley, a kindergarten teacher at Lakeside Elementary. “Yes, I believe the programs are helpful and provide some food for at home, like the Food4Kids program, but I wonder what else we could do. I also wonder what it would take to provide students a breakfast or lunch that is not prepackaged items.”  

“I feel like students are less likely to be hungry due to those programs,” said Tyana Maiseroulle, a fourth-grade teacher at Lakeside Elementary. “We have been fortunate to have those support systems in place to reduce the impact of hunger in our classrooms.”

Students are more likely to focus and be able to get themselves regulated than they have been when they are hungry,” she continued. “Often, if a student is struggling with behavior or attitude, you should check to see if they are hungry. Hangry is a real thing for students!”