PITTSBORO — School nutrition officials told the Chatham County Board of Education last week that Chatham County Schools personnel have served more than 100,000 meals since the district began distributing on March 16.
Jennifer Ozkurt, the district’s director of school nutrition services, told the school board that her staff is currently operating 11 curbside pick-up locations and seven bus routes around the county and meeting regularly to “continually go over health and safety updates as they come through.”
“We are doing our best to ensure that information is updated for families to make informed decisions about coming to the schools,” Ozkurt said during the April 20 meeting. “Safety is our utmost concern, and that goes in relation to our staff.”
With students not meeting on campus for classes and receiving meals during the school week, public school districts across the state have continued to provide those meals in different forms for families both in and out of the school system. From March 16 to April 12, Chatham’s schools served 46,344 breakfasts and 47,937 lunches to children and adults, with the latter paying a “nominal fee” for the meals. By April 17, that total number eclipsed the 100,000-mark.
CCS Superintendent Derrick Jordan said he was proud to see the district serve the whole community, no matter where the children attend school.
“It’s open to all members of the community, and I think that in a crisis situation like this, I love the fact that we are able to knock down barriers,” Jordan said. “We’re continuing to see our School Nutrition staff have a wonderful commitment to this work.”
The operation has allowed some of the district’s classified staff, particularly bus drivers and instructional assistants, to work during the pandemic. Those individuals are not responsible for direct instruction and thus have less to do. Ozkurt said using currently-hired staff instead of volunteers had the added effect of “keep(ing) our teams isolated.”
She added that the district has created a Standard Operating Procedure in the event one of the staff helping out contracts COVID-19. WCHL & Chapelboro reported last week that Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools personnel who were part of the food distribution initiative had tested positive for COVID-19. Ozkurt said Chatham’s plan, which she did not elaborate on, was created “so that we can still continue to maintain operations if we had a site with a positive case.”
She added that the district has provided all food distribution staff with personal protective equipment and is regularly in contact with the N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction and Chatham County Public Health Department.
Jordan emphasized a point made in the agenda packet — the district will lose money on distributing meals. Child Nutrition serves as an enterprise fund within the district.
“You are in that to try and make money, keep it solvent,” Jordan said. “We certainly will lose money as a result of this. We are appreciative of the efforts, both at the state and national level to soften the decrease that our district, along with many others across the country, will experience.”
The agenda packet said there was no determined number to define that loss, but that the district is aware “for sure that there will be a decrease in revenue,” and the situation “will definitely impact the bottom line.”
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.