School District feeding kids during crisis; program expanded to include weekend meals

Free school breakfasts and lunches for all school children

Val DeGrace, Tammy Clement and Cindy Smetanick were manning the L.P. Quinn school lunch and breakfast “grab and go” distribution site one recent weekday morning. On the morning the Free Press photographer stopped to pick up meals for her grandkids the lunch consisted of a sandwich, fruit, a vegetable, chocolate milk and Doritos or chips. The breakfast was a choice of cereal or Poptarts or ham and cheese English muffin, fruit, white milk and a cheesestick. (Larabie photo)

By Rich Rosentreter

The Tupper Lake Central School District is making sure children in its range will have a breakfast and lunch meal every day of the week during the COVID-19 pandemic that has engulfed the entire country and snowballed into a national crisis in a matter of weeks.

Meal pickup sites are located at the L.P Quinn Elementary School, Ivy Terrace Apartments and the Christian Center Church and “Grab and Go” meals for students will be available from 5:30 to 9 a.m. at those sites. Families may visit the school website or Facebook page or call the district office, high school or elementary school to sign up for meals or get more information about the meal program.

The meal pickup program, which started as only a mid-week service, has been expanded to include weekend breakfast and lunches as well, however the pickup sites will not be open on Saturday on Sunday, according to School District Superintendent Seth McGowan. He said beginning this Friday meals for the weekend will be provided and on that day each student will be given six bags to cover their meals for the three-day period.

McGowan made two things clear about the "Grab and Go" meals: One is that the meals are being provided for free; and two that any family with children in the household should contact the school if those children need a breakfast or lunch duing this crisis.

“If there is anybody out the who is not aware of this program now, they should just call the school. Forget about going online and register. Just call the district office or the elementary school or high school office. We have people answering phones. Whatever it takes, we will make this happen,” he said. The school district phone number is 359-3322.

“I want to emphasize that this is free. There is zero charge. This is free for everybody, whether your child was in the free or reduced plan or if they never used the food service at school and just want to do this. Everybody who wants to do this could participate,” McGowan added. “I have a sense that there are kids who normally go through our lunch line every day that are not picking up breakfast or lunch or having someone pick up for them.”

McGowan said that he reason some families in the school district are not picking meals up could be for any number of reasons such as someone not having a vehicle or no one to grab the meals.

“Whatever the reason, if their kids are going without a meal for breakfast or lunch, they should contact us and we will just make it happen. Regardless of what the circumstance is. We will make sure that those kids have meals," he said.

McGowan said it is also important to note that if families have kids who are not yet in school, the district would still provide a meal for that child.

“I’m saying that even if there is a pre-school child in that home they should contact us, and even if there is no school age child, they should still contact us and we will work something out,” he said. “We’re not limiting it to students.”

School district Business Administrator Dan Bower said the district is expecting to get reinbursed for the free meals at the state and federal level as part of the nationl school lunch program.

The numbers

So far the meal progrm has been well-received by the community and although not every family has taken advantage of the service, the school district is prepared to help each student in its vicinity.

"During the first days we weren't real sure about demand so we had over prepared because we didn't want to run out," McGowan explained. "Now we are getting more accurate on (meal) counts. Some people pick up every day and others do not. Right now we do about 250 meals a day. If the number rises, it rises. We'd be happy to provide as many that are necessary."

McGowan estimated that one-third of the households that have chiddren in district have been utililizing the meal program and added that not everybody participates in lunch programs – but even those students are eligible to get meals in this time of crisis.

“What I’m afraid of is that they’re not picking up (meals) because they don’t have a way to get there or they think they’re not eligible, or for whatever reason, that they can’t or shouldn’t,” he said. “I want everybody to know that they can. We’re in crisis mode in the community so whatever we can do, we’ll do.”

Deliveries

The school district is also delivering meals to students in the Piercefield area and McGowan said additional local deliveries will be available “under special circumstances.”

“If there was a reason a child was going without breakfast or lunch because of transportation or another reason, we will try to work something out,” he said, adding that the district had considered a pickup center in Piercefield, but logistically it was easier just to deliver the meals. “We’re delivering all the way to Childwold and Conifer. I say that because if there was a reason somebody could not pick up a meal for their child and they were just stuck, we would work something out we would get it to them, even if they were in town someplace.”

McGowan added that he does not think the district would be able to deliver to everyone on a daily basis.

"We want to make it easy on the parents. We know that closing school is very unusual and creates a whole series of impacts on families," he said. "My goal is to mitigate as much of thse impacts as humanly possible and certainly food and nutrition is one of them."

Pulling together

This nation and community has faced other crisis and this one certainy ranks among the most pressing.

"In this community, any time there is a crisis, more than any other community I know, Tupper Lake rises to the occasion and doesn't take anything for granted. People that are coming in, they're very grateful," McGowan said. He added that it is hard to say if this is the biggest crisis the school district has ever faced but it certainly had mechanisms in place to take action.

"With this, I am fearful for the health and safety of our kids and community. We do a lot of planing. Our safety plan contained a lot of the elelments that we use to mobilize." he said. "Every day we have grab and go meals, so the concept is not new. Making it happen at Ivy Terrace and the Christian Center Church, that’s a little different, but that’s just moving coolers and refrigeration to those places, otherwise we prepare those meals for kids every day.”

McGowan said the kitchen staff is in early in the morning and meals are ready to go by 5 a.m. as they have to make sure meals are at the three pickup sites at 5:30 a.m.

“We have staff at those locations that are there at 5 a.m. It really has become a matter of logistics and systems. It’s just ticking along like a well-oiled machine. I’m very proud. Honestly, it’s amazing what people can do, they do great things each day, but when everyone is coordinated and have the same goal in mind, it kind of creates an energy. A get-it-done and get it done well mentality. Everybody has just upped their game. I see this all the time,” he said. “We’re a people industry and we rely on people to teach other people and usually it’s the kids, but in this case, the staff and the faculty, everybody has combined forces and created this swell of energy. It’s very exciting actually.”

Bower acknowledged the high level of purpose by all the workers in the school district as everyone from administrators and faculty to teachers and teacher aides to all the supporting staff all recognize the gravity of the situation.

“Everybody has been willing to chip in and do work that isn’t usually part of their normal job. They just pitch right in,” Bower said. “I think it all gives us all a sense of positive purpose and we’re doing our part.”

McGowan also said that the district is learning from this experience as well.

“We are learning about transportation and food preparation that will probably impact on how we do things after we reopen. Now that we have done this out of necessity we’re inventing new ways on how to do things, in the classroom, in the kitchen and with our transportation,” he said.

A tight-knit community

Both Bower and McGowan said they have both received a positive response by an appreciative Tupper Lake community.

“We’ve heard all positive responses. People are very appreciative,” Bower said, adding that the district is trying to keep it website and Facebook page full of up-to-date information and if people still have questions, they can send emails or leave a voicemail. “We’ll get back to folks to answer any questions.”

McGowan said he appreciates everyone's patience as the district continues to figure things out as the COVID-19 situation changes with each day.

"Parents have been understanding of any glitches along the way. That really helps," he said. "Right ow everything is going very well, betweeen the food service workers and we have the transpoion depart involved, we have teacher aides in, I just couldn't ask for a more concerned and coordinated team. We're firing on all cylinders."

When Bower was asked about the unity demonstrated by the school’s workers, he paused, with a touch of emotion apparent in his voice.

“It’s hard to put into words. It makes me proud to be among the employees of a district, really a community that cares so much about their fellow community members and getting the job done and taking care of our kids - and just trying to make life easier in a bad situation,” he said. “We’ve had some long days but we kind of draw our energy from the fact that everybody else is in it and we’re all in it together. It’s so fluid that we’re just trying to keep up with it. You don’t know what’s coming next. I have just been so impressed wth everyone just stepping up and doing whatever they’ve been asked to do. The community has been fantastic as far a communicating back and forth and with patience. You’ve seen the best in everyone. Because it could be a while so I’m just hoping that mood stays where it is and I have a feeling here that that’s going to happen. It’s a great place to live and if we have to go through this sort of thing I wouldn’t want to be anyplace else.”