JISD ensures students get needed meals despite COVID-19 closure

ven though area school districts are shut down presently because of COVID-19, students are taking online classes and doing their homework as normal. To ensure students are not going hungry,  area school districts are, going above and beyond what is needed to make sure their students are fed,

Districts are having families drive up for lunch and dinner or breakfast and lunch, depending on the district, on the weekdays. Many districts, like Jacksboro ISD, are also going the extra mile and making sure those without transportation are receiving their food as well.

JISD Superintendent Dwain Milam said district officials had concerns about the students living several miles from campus.

“We were hearing that students may not get a meal because they lived several miles from campus,” Milam said. “We discussed it and decided to take this option where buses deliver the food.”

Jacksboro Middle School is the distribution hub where lunches are made and sent out from. Lunches are distributed from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. via curbside pickup and through six bus routes.

JMS Cafeteria manager Ann Martinez said two of the bus routes run through Jacksboro proper and the other four are outside city limits. A staff of 14 prepares the lunches in two shifts: the first shift gets all the cold items together for lunches while the second shift comes the next day and works on the non-perishable items.

Martinez said about 270 sack lunches are prepared to be given in the pickup lines with the others going on the bus. The bus routes are manned by a driver and a helper.

Each bag contains a lunch and a dinner with foods such as grilled cheese sandwiches, which can be eaten right out of the pouch, a turkey and cheese wrap among others.

Chips, yogurt, a cheese stick along with two fruits and two veggies are part of every sack, Martinez said.

Parents not signed up for the lunches, which are free, are seeing what the district is doing. If there are extra meals left, workers are giving them out to those not signed up.

The program will continue while schools are shut down.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, April 1, edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.