TAMPA — When the threat of the coronavirus forced schools to switch to online learning in March, local districts set up grab-and-go, drive-through food pantries on school campuses for children who relied on free school breakfasts and lunches. Gaps in the service were plugged by local food banks.
The reopening of schools next month will throw up a whole new set of challenges.
With many students expected to stay home and learn online, school districts will have to feed students both at school and at home. And new rules restricting visitors on school campuses may require groups like Feeding Tampa Bay to find alternative sites for walk-in pantries where parents can get groceries for evenings and weekends.
Officials from Hillsborough and Pinellas school districts said Friday they are still finalizing plans for school meals for students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals and whose parents want them to continue with online classes. With Florida’s number of coronavirus cases surging, a significant proportion of parents are expected to hold their children back from a physical return to school.
School reopening plans released by both districts detail how they plan to make school lunch rooms as safe as possible, but provide only scant details about students working remotely.
Hillsborough County School Board member Cindy Stuart said the district likely will have to replicate grab-and-go programs it offered in the spring. That included providing pre-packaged meals at 147 schools with another 300 locations served by school buses that delivered to families who did not have transportation.
“For the e-learning student planning to stay home, we will find a way, as we did in the spring, to get those students meals,” she said during a conference call Friday that included Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and leaders of Feeding Tampa Bay. “Those details have not been managed.”
Pinellas plans to provide study-at-home students who qualify for subsidized meals with a once-a-week meal pickup program at their school, said district spokeswoman Isabel Mascareñas.
“Details are still being finalized,” she said. “It all depends on how many students will go to brick-and-mortar schools.”
Across Florida, about 54 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on their family’s income. That number is higher in Hillsborough, where about 60 percent of students meet the criteria. Pinellas is below the state average, with about half of its students eligible.
Numerous studies have shown that children are more attentive, perform better and miss less school when they have access to healthier meals.
School districts hope that Florida will be able to obtain waivers again from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on some rules that govern school meals.
Those waivers allowed schools this spring to hand out a week’s worth of food in advance so parents did not have to come to school each day. A requirement that children must accompany their parents to pick up meals also was waived, as long as parents provided proof of enrollment.
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Corcoran, who has six children, said he plans to send his kids back to school. The state is ready to approve rules to allow a week’s worth of food to be given out, he said.
“That’s an option that superintendents want, and it’s an enhancement to protect against anyone getting the virus,” he said.
Meals during the school day are not the only concern.
Feeding Tampa Bay plans to continue to provide food to students at after-school programs at recreation centers and Boys and Girls Club facilities, said Matt Spence, the nonprofit’s chief program officer.
Last school year, it provided meals at 24 sites, but was forced to close some after volunteers reported coronavirus infections or contact with someone who was infected.
“We know the need is there, so we’ll find way to serve them,” Spence said.
Continuing its food pantry program at school sites will be tougher. The program, funded through donations, allowed families to pick up groceries at their local schools in a room set up as a pantry. It is intended to ensure students get healthy meals in the evenings and on weekends.
But schools will be limiting visitors at the start of this school year to reduce the risk of spreading the virus and may not approve having food pantries on campus.
“We’re not exactly sure what those will look like at the beginning of the year,” Spence said.
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