When schools operate remotely, far fewer children are receiving nutritious school meals, which has school officials worried. | stock photo
When schools operate remotely, far fewer children are receiving nutritious school meals, which has school officials worried. | stock photo
The number of meals served within the Detroit school district has dropped dramatically as a result of COVID-19, raising concerns about whether students are getting the nutrition they need.
So far in this academic year, schools across Detroit have been serving less than a quarter of the school meals that they would typically serve to students in a day. During past academic years, the district averaged approximately 69,500 meals per day for students. This year, with a majority of learning happening online, that figure has dropped to 16,000, according to Chalkbeat Detroit.
This downward trend is expected to continue through the winter. With coronavirus cases rising across Michigan once again, face-to-face instruction has been suspended for Detroit schools. While the district has made efforts to provide meals for pickup to students learning online, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti estimated that the figure could drop to 4,000 meals per day.
The sharp decline in these numbers is troubling, as approximately 90% of students in the Detroit school district qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Without these school-provided meals, some officials worry that children across Detroit will not be getting the nutrition that they need.
Diane Golzynski, director of the Michigan Department of Education’s office of health and nutrition services, said, “It appears that there are still struggles with [students] getting the food. I don’t have hard data on why, but my best guess is transportation, timing and communication are the largest challenges," according to Chalkbeat Detroit.
In addition to these challenges from the drop-in school meals, the district is now concerned with being able to continue to employ over 500 staff members within the food and nutrition department. School board member Sonya Mays echoed the concerns, telling Chalkbeat Detroit, “This is a really terrible and unfortunate situation, probably one of the most difficult we have faced… in the last few years.”
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the Detroit school district may continue to grapple with some difficult decisions in the coming winter months.
Alerts Sign-up