In a city where three-quarters of public school students are economically disadvantaged and they all get free breakfast and lunch, Chicago Public Schools has a big void to fill in the lives of 355,000 youth as its schools prepare to close amid efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Though school districts don’t have to provide meals if schools close for COVID-19, state and federal agencies, including the Illinois State Board of Education, have recommended it.
The challenge is greater than it is over the summer, or than it was during the Chicago teachers strike in the fall, because now they have to figure out a way to do so while keeping people away from each other.
Illinois has joined a growing list of states granted federal waivers allowing them to provide food to students outside of a group setting in the event of school closures specific to coronavirus precautions. The Illinois State Board of Education learned Thursday afternoon their waiver had been granted, a spokeswoman said. Washington, California and Alaska were among the first states granted such waivers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
CPS held off on mass closures until they were ordered Friday statewide by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and only since then has the district provided details of a contingency plan. Will Foster, a senior at Walter Payton College Prep, said before Friday, students there haven’t received any communication from the top about contingency plans “with regard to food or really anything.”
But Friday evening, the school district announced it will provide boxes of free food containing three days of breakfast and lunch for each student. Boxes can be picked up at CPS schools between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day of the closure, which begins Tuesday and lasts for at least two weeks.
Earlier Friday, the Chicago Teachers Union issued new demands including the closure of all schools to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and for city and schools officials to come up with a meal delivery strategy for students who rely on schools for breakfast and lunch.
In a letter Friday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Pritzker, 9th-Ward Ald. Anthony Beale applauded the decision to close schools but said he was worried about students getting food and offered his help securing a solution. “It is critical that here in Chicago and throughout Illinois that we find a way to ensure the distribution of food to every family or child,” Beale wrote. “Whether it be through distribution centers organized by the City of Chicago, the State of IL, or through Aramark the local vendor that the CTU suggests, or some other method, it is imperative we quickly solve this challenge.”
In many school districts statewide, students rely on free breakfast and lunch provided through a federal program. More than three-quarters of CPS students in district-run schools are considered economically disadvantaged — meaning they qualified for free or reduced price lunch before the two meals became free to all students under the federal community eligibility provision, which funds them for all students in locations where more than 40% qualify.
During unexpected closures, schools and eligible community groups that participate in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs or the Child and Adult Care Food Program can serve meals to children affected by closures through summer food programs, according to ISBE.
However, the food legally has to be served in a group setting known as “congregate feeding,” which would defeat the purpose of closing schools to prevent spread of the coronavirus by “social distancing.”
Only in public health emergencies does USDA have the authority to waive this requirement, and during a hearing this week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said they’re only able to grant waivers on a case-by-case basis at the request of individual states. However, Perdue said the USDA is agreeing preemptively to grant any request.
“If you ask we are going to say ‘yes,'” Perdue said. “We are essentially saying we just have to fulfill that requirement by being asked, but the answer is yes.”
An ISBE document states their waiver “will provide flexibility to school food authorities and community organizations to distribute meals in affected communities.”
States can also request waivers of other requirements.
The USDA this week announced these “proactive flexibilities” will cover effects tied to COVID-19 school closings through the end of June.
Guidance released Thursday by ISBE encourages schools to keep providing meals if the coronavirus prompts them to close or move to distance learning, or in other circumstances where students are not physically at school.
However, at least in Illinois, each district must figure out how to get the food to each student. Suggestions from ISBE include home delivery, “grab-n-go” locations, or curbside pickup. The Pritzker administration on Friday said its staff are working with the state’s eight major food banks “to expand services” and asking food manufacturers to prioritize food banks.
For families of Vaughn Occupational High School, the only CPS school to close so far after an aide tested positive for COVID-19 on March 6, district staff have made boxes with three days’ worth of food available for pickup at its warehouse in Brighton Park. The district on Friday said it has also started making deliveries for families without transportation. Volunteers have also been delivering bags of food to families from state Rep. Lindsey LaPointe’s field office in Portage Park.
The effort is mighty, with more than 200 Vaughn families living all over the city.
On Thursday, Gervaise Clay, a field representative for the Chicago Teachers Union whose children are grown, used her lunch break to journey from the CTU’s Near West Side headquarters to pick up bags of food from LaPointe’s office and take them to a family in Belmont Cragin.
Districts also apply individually to ISBE in order to deliver food under the waiver, and must comply with federal standards for meal content and safety. Application questions include anticipated start and end dates, if known; how the school will distribute meals; and how delivery plans will be communicated with families. ISBE advises school food authorities, such as school districts, to apply before they dismiss school. The state board indicated it may approve distributing multiple days’ worth of meals at a time, but the maximum number of meals that can be provided is still two per child per day.
ISBE has not provided information on which, if any, school districts have applied to use the waiver. Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday said closing schools would have “a cascading effect” for many families.
“The other thing that I want to highlight is that many of our children in CPS rely upon the schools to eat every day,” Lightfoot added at a City Hall news conference. “Seventy percent of the CPS school community is low income families. They get at least two, and in some instances three meals a day at schools. So what we have been doing from the start of this is calibrating and balancing a lot of different data, a lot of different considerations. I want parents out there to understand that we understand this. We take it very seriously, and that if we get to a point where we feel it’s prudent to close schools, we’re going to do that in a way that mitigates and minimizes the burden that we will invariably be placing on individual households.”
Meanwhile, some suburban districts announced meal programs, also without a delivery component.
The City of Evanston, along with two school districts serving the city, announced Friday they are partnering to provide free”grab-and-go” breakfast and lunch to youth at four pickup locations throughout the city, with no restrictions for residency or income. None of the food can be eaten at the pickup locations.
Park Ridge Niles School District 64, working with its partner Quest Food Management Services, has said it will give free meals next week specifically to district students who usually get it through the National School Lunch Program. The district is having families pick up installments of meals twice during the week during designated time windows at two locations, “outside of the school building or in the lobby to ensure the safety and sanitation of the building.”
This story has been updated to reflect new developments Friday.
The Tribune’s John Byrne contributed.
hleone@chicagotribune.com
