JCPS Preps Emergency Feeding Sites During Closure
JCPS has a plan to help feed students in need during the school closures.
School lunches will be available to any student under 18 years old at 43 sites across Louisville. JCPS getting two weeks worth of supplemental school work and exercises to all students through hard copies and their Digital Backpacks.
— JCPS (@JCPSKY) March 12, 2020
Julia Bauscher, the executive administrator of School and Community Nutrition Services, said there will be 43 sites, where anyone 18 and under can get a meal if school is closed. Students will not need to have financial need to qualify. Thirty-five of those sites are school based, while eight are mobile stops.
The meals will be provided by drive-through and walk-up services. Lunch would be served from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Program leaders said they are considering expanding sites, and offering breakfast if needed.
“Sometimes the meals we provide to the students are the only meals they get during the day,” Bauscher said. “So, we want to make sure that good nutrition is available to them when they’re not in school. So, they’re ready to do all of those workbooks and backpack things that are being sent home with them.”
Bauscher said school lunch workers are taking health precautions, too. They’ve discontinued the use of pin pads at typical checkout sites.
They’re sanitizing surfaces, suspending the food rescue program and lunches will contain already wrapped menu items. So, workers don’t have to touch the food.
