Local schools figure out meal delivery
Courtesy photo Wallace School District bus driver Tina Daiker, clad in safety mask and rubber gloves, hands a meal off to a student during one of her meal-delivery routes for WSD’s displaced students.
Staff in the Kellogg School District work to fill paper sacks with meals for students in the Kellogg Middle School cafeteria.
Breakfast and lunch are served!
What looked to be a dire situation just a week ago is now operating at full capacity as the three local school districts are providing meals to their displaced students.
It was initially reported that the schools wouldn’t be receiving their usual food orders as suppliers were scrambling to keep the local grocery stores stocked, but the situation ended up as really only a delay.
In Mullan, Shoshone County’s smallest school district, deliveries are completely on schedule according to MSD superintendent Les Wells.
In Wallace, the school lunches were never really in doubt as WSD Superintendent Dr. Bob Ranells informed the News-Press that his district had more than two weeks of food stocked up, which along with consistent food deliveries, should keep them moving right along through the duration of the closure.
It was announced on Monday afternoon that schools were to remain in “soft closure” until at least April 20, with one of the requirements for doing so being the ability to provide meals to displaced students.
In Kellogg, the largest district in the county, administrators had planned to begin meal deliveries at the beginning of the week and had to hold their breath through the weekend, hoping that their food supply would get them through until their next food delivery.
KSD’s meal delivery plan began as expected earlier this week, but has had some local assistance according to Superintendent Dr. Nancy Larsen.
“We are delivering to 125 students so far,” Larsen said. “We were able to get state commodities delivered to Post Falls and our maintenance team drove over to pick them up. Yoke’s has helped with a few things and Jay Huber has supplied milk. We may get a delivery from local suppliers next week.”
Larsen heaped praise on her staff, who have taken the initiative to make sure that, despite the supply obstacles, students are getting fed.
“It’s been a valiant team effort. I am so thankful for everyone going the extra mile,” Larsen said. “Jeanie Smith, one of our head cooks, has stepped up to make sure it all works. Cindy Burkgart has organized staff and Lori Osterberg has organized our busing staff.”
Like the other districts, Kellogg will continue to feed their students to the end of the soft closure.
For information on each school district’s meal delivery programs, including routes and times, please visit their social media pages or call the respective district office.
For the Kellogg School District call 208-784-1348, for the Mullan School District call 208-744-1126 and for the Wallace School District call 208-753-4515.