Cincinnati Public Schools Work To Feed Students During Coronavirus Closure

Press release from Cincinnati Public Schools:

March 17, 2020

In Cincinnati, school officials were trying to figure out what kind of nonperishable meals they could distribute to homeless students, who constitute nearly a tenth of the student body. In New Rochelle, New York, where residents have been confined to their homes, the National Guard delivered food to needy students. And in Baltimore, a high school senior was contemplating how he would go two weeks without a school lunch.

As the growing coronavirus pandemic shut down school for millions of students, educators are worried not just about missed class time but missed meals, with an estimated one in six children living in homes without enough food, and many families relying on schools to feed their children.

The pandemic has raised questions about how the extended school closures, intended to slow an outbreak that poses particular peril to the elderly, could threaten the well being of children who see school as not just a place to learn but a lifeline. Some warn that the pandemic could spur a child hunger crisis.

"There's a significant need in our community to continue to support them as much as we can," said Jessica Shelly, director of student dining services for Cincinnati Public Schools, where 83 percent of children qualify for free and reduced-price meals. She cried as she spoke about the city's homeless children. "Some of these families don't have a stove. They don't have a refrigerator. They don't have a pan."

Schools have become a social safety net for many of the country's 50 million students, a majority of whom come from households poor enough to qualify for free or subsidized school lunches. Before the wave of closures, schools served free lunches to more than 20 million students who qualified for free meals. Feeding children has become part of the central mission of public schools, even when class is out of session, with many opening cafeterias during the summertime and extended weather closures.

Even as many school districts closed to slow the spread of the outbreak, many school leaders hesitated, knowing some children rely on schools for meals. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) resisted closing the city's public schools, which educate more than 1 million students, because he worried about where students would eat and who would care for them. On Sunday, facing mounting public pressure, he agreed to shutter them until April 20.

"I know the full cost of shutting our schools. It's very painful. It's going to be very difficult for a lot of families," de Blasio said.

The pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for schools. School systems can no longer open cafeterias to serve meals, because it would bring students and staff in close contact and increase the risk of spreading infection. Everyone is being encouraged to stay home.

Instead, many school systems have set up “grab and go” feeding sites, where families can pull up and get meals for every child in the car and bring meals home to eat, minimizing contact between them and cafeteria workers. In some systems, school buses are being deputized to deliver meals to stops in neighborhoods with high concentrations of students eligible for free- and reduced-price meal.

Shelly said she worries about cafeteria workers being exposed and falling ill. And to be doubly certain the virus is not spread by food preparation, everything she plans to serve will be packaged before it reaches cafeterias.

If the closures stretch on, Shelly said cafeteria workers will start delivering meals directly to neighborhoods in a school bus the district transformed into a food truck.

This press release was produced by Cincinnati Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.