Starting Thursday, the dozens of Hamilton County school sites offering meal pick-up for students while schools are closed will only be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
With Hamilton County Schools closed until at least April 13 amid concerns about spreading the coronavirus, the district is providing meals for any child under 18 at 37 different locations.
“Starting today there will only be one window for families to pick up student meals from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. During that time, families will be able to pick up both lunch for that day & breakfast for the following day,” according to a Facebook post from the district Thursday.
Chief Operations Officer Justin Robertson said that for many families, visiting the site twice a day was difficult, so the district sought state approval to combine breakfast and lunch pick-up. The meals will be provided as long as schools remain closed, Robertson said.
More than a third, or 35.4%, of Hamilton County students are considered “economically disadvantaged” and about 64.7%, or almost 30,000 students, have access to free breakfast and lunch every day at schools – which means many kids might not have lunch while they are home from school this month.