As a very unusual school year wraps up across Georgia, local school districts are planning to continue at least one aspect of school at home - delivery of free meals to students.
The Hall County School Board heard Monday evening from Cheryl Jones, Nutrition Director for the Hall County School District, who said meal delivery will occur during the month of June.
"We plan to serve meals in 15 of our schools this summer...and we'll just go through the month of June," Jones told the board during an online work session, noting that there would also be at-home delivery service.
"We have to split the routes up a little bit because we don't have as many drivers as we currently have, so we anticipate Tuesdays will be group A, and we'll have about 5,000 students being served on Tuesdays and we'll take their meals for the week," Jones said. "We'll serve an additional 5,000 students on Wednesdays...it's something we've been approved to do for these unprecedented times [in light of] COVID-19."
Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield told board members he had received a few emails critical of the free meal delivery service, but he noted the program - as it is with other public school districts - is implemented by the U.S. Agriculture Department to ensure all students have at least one nutritious meal per day.
"So, the tab for all of this is picked up by the Department of Agriculture under the free and reduced meal program, but even if it wasn't I think I would be coming to this board even in these tough times and saying we've got a lot of families out there that are really having challenges getting access to food and to meals," Schofield said. "So, number one, it's the right thing to do, and number two, it is a federal program and the Hall County School District is not picking up the tab."
Habersham County School System
In Habersham County, the school nutrition department will provide summer meal programs to any child age 18 or younger from June 1 to July 23. Drive-through meal pickup will be available at 13 sites Monday through Thursday of each week, with Friday’s meal provided on Thursday.
By the end of the school year May 22, Habersham County officials estimate school nutrition personnel will have provided 180,000 meals since March 17.
Follow this link to see full details of the summer meal program for the Habersham County School System.
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Gwinnett County Public Schools will wrap up its meal service for spring on Friday, May 15, after providing more than 2.2 million meals at 67 different school locations and on meal delivery routes run by school buses. The school system's summer meal program will run from June 8 - 26. Pick-up locations are being finalized now.
Gwinnett County government will fill in when the school district’s program ends by starting its Summer Meals program on Monday, May 18. The Gwinnett County program will have a number of locations for students to get free grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches for children 18 years old and younger. Parents can pick up meals for their children at 18 park locations around the county to take home or the children can pick up their own meals. The meals, which consist of things like sandwiches and wraps, meet USDA guidelines.
“It is the common goal of the Board of the Commissioners and the Board of Education to assist families and make sure children receive nutritious meals during this challenging time,” said Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash in a press statement issued Monday afternoon.
Follow this link to find more information on the county's summer meal program.
