LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools will open 45 sites for families to pick up lunches while Kentucky’s largest school district is closed due to COVID-19.
Julia Bauscher, executive administrator of school and community nutrition services, said Thursday that JCPS is prepared to operate 37 school sites and eight mobile sites from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday so students can have lunches.
JCPS called off classes due to the coronavirus, and a number of other districts announced short- and long-term closures in response to the global pandemic that has been positively identified in eight Kentucky patients, one of them in Louisville.
Bauscher told reporters Wednesday that the number of sites will be expanded and that the district could offer breakfasts if necessary. Dare to Care is also exploring the option of partnering with the district to provide dinners for students who need them, she said.
More than 62% of the nearly 99,000 students in JCPS qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
“We could sustain this throughout the remainder of the school year," Bauscher said. "I hope that that isn’t necessary, but again, we have the inventory on hand, the labor available to provide meals to our students.”
The district is operating meal sites through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program. Bauscher said the district typically feeds about 10% of JCPS students through the summer program, but she expects the need to be greater if the district is forced to close.
“But we are prepared,” she said. “We prepare these meals every day here at the nutrition service center and provide them as suppers at 100 sites, so we definitely have the capacity to feed as many children as needed.”
“Sometimes the meals we provide to the students are the only meals that they get during the day, so we want to make sure that good nutrition is available to them when they’re not in school,” she added.
Here's is a listing and map of the food service sites from JCPS:
NOTE: This map was provided by JCPS on Thursday and does not include Wheatley Elementary or Roosevelt-Perry Elementary.
The Kentucky Department of Education will seek a waiver from the state education board so that districts aren’t already approved for its non-traditional instruction program can join for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.
That program allows districts up to 10 days of remote learning, and Kentucky lawmakers are considering a bill to double that amount for this school year amid growing concern of COVID-19.
JCPS is not a participant in the state's NTI program.
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