Fayette schools will distribute food twice a week to students amid coronavirus closure
Fayette County Public Schools has expanded the free meal program it restarted this week to help kids impacted by the schools’ coronavirus closure.
Twenty-one schools will be providing meals for pickup twice a week starting Monday.
Any child 18 years old or younger — regardless of where they live or attend school — will be able to get breakfast and lunch from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., according to a letter sent to parents by Superintendent Manny Caulk. On Mondays, kids will receive food for Monday and Tuesday. Food for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday meals will be distributed Wednesday, according to Caulk.
Fayette County Public Schools are closed until at least May 1. The pickups will continue every Monday and Wednesday while the schools are closed, the letter said.
“Economic hardship has worsened for many of our neighbors, and food insecurity is a reality for many of the families we serve,” Caulk said in the letter. “During these rapidly changing times, we are working to adjust our services in ways that are best for our students and families.”
The meals will now be available at these schools:
- Arlington Elementary
- Booker T. Washington Elementary
- Breckinridge Elementary
- Bryan Station High
- Cardinal Valley Elementary
- Clays Mill Elementary
- Deep Springs Elementary
- Glendover Elementary
- James Lane Allen Elementary
- Julius Marks Elementary
- Lansdowne Elementary
- Leestown Middle
- Mary Todd Elementary
- Meadowthorpe Elementary
- The Academy for Leadership at Millcreek Elementary
- Northern Elementary
- Southern Elementary
- Squires Elementary
- Tates Creek High
- William Wells Brown Elementary
- Winburn Middle
Families are encouraged to refrigerate the meals to assure they last through the week, the letter said.
FCPS previously announced it would allow kids to pick up meals on Monday, thanks to help from the Jenna and Matthew Mitchell Foundation at Blue Grass Community Foundation and The Calipari Foundation. The expanded program is intended to provide meals more consistently to those who depend on it, Caulk said.
After schools closed mid-March to stop the spread of the coronavirus, food was distributed during the week to school bus stops where families picked it up. But after a transportation worker tested positive for COVID-19, the district scrapped that plan on March 25. Since then, several bus drivers and other transportation personnel have tested positive for the virus with at least one death and others hospitalized. As of Sunday, 27 transportation employees and school staff members have tested positive.
The school district is also working to provide supplemental meals to those in greater need, Caulk said.