Starting Monday, Dec. 7, the number of meal sites for the “grab-and-go” curbside meals will be reduced for Kansas City, Kansas, Public School students and patrons.
There will be a little more than half the number of school nutrition sites now available for meal pickup. Students may go to a nearby open site to pick up the meals.
According to a school district website post, the consolidation of the meal sites was necessary to help the staff and the community stay safe.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools’ Board of Education voted Dec. 1 to reduce the meal sites after hearing a district staff report with that recommendation.
According to the staff report, there was a difficulty in trying to staff all the sites adequately, with an increase of COVID-19 in the community. There were more absences being reported among the staff recently, according to the staff report.
According to the district’s website, meals will be available for pickup Dec. 7 at these schools:
High schools: Harmon, Schlagle and Washington.
Middle schools: Central, Carl Bruce, Gloria Willis and Rosedale.
Elementary schools: Banneker, Claude Huyck, Douglass, John Fiske, Lowell Brune, Mark Twain, M.E. Pearson, New Chelsea, Stony Point South and Welborn.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools currently are in remote learning and are not in the classrooms.
The nutrition program provides meals for students, who pick them up from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Breakfast and lunch are included, and milk and juice are available. Students pick up two lunches and two breakfasts on Monday, one lunch and one breakfast on Wednesday, and two lunches and two breakfasts on Friday.
Students must pre-register to pick up a meal; pre-registration is available by calling 913-627-3900. There is also a pre-registration form on the district’s website. The nutritional services department wants to know if students have a food allergy, when registering.
The meals are free for ages 1-18, and participants do not need to be a KCKPS student to have access to the meals, according to the district’s webpage.
School board members were concerned that the distance might be too great for some students to pick up their meals. Those who have transportation problems may call their school principal or school social worker to see if other arrangements can be made.
Members of the community with children using the grab-and-go meal program without a home school may call the district at 913-627-3900 to share any challenges around picking up meals.
Schools that will no longer serve curbside meals after Dec. 4 include Bridges, Caruthers, Eisenhower, Emerson, Frances Willard, Frank Rushton, Hazel Grove, KCKECC, McKinley, Quindaro, Silver City, Stony Point North and Edison.
For more information visit https://kckps.org/important-update-on-grab-and-go-meal-location-changes/. This website also lists some other food distribution sites, some through private agencies, that are operating in Wyandotte County.
See previous story at
https://wyandotteonline.com/kck-school-board-votes-to-delay-return-to-in-person-learning-until-april/.