LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Food distribution and school lunch service will change as K-3 students return to in-person learning under a hybrid learning system next month.
In its 246-page Hybrid Instruction Model Implementation Guide, the Clark County School District laid out how kids will safely receive meals while in school and during their distance learning time.
Elementary students, the first to return under the new plan, will be released one class at a time to collect their lunch and then return to class to eat.
The plan said students would follow floor markers to maintain six feet of social distancing and their desks would be sanitized after each meal.
Secondary students will collect their lunch from kiosks at exits or cafeteria windows for nearby classrooms and exit the building with their food.
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Middle and high schools will continue to operate as food distribution sites for kids who continue to use distance learning.
Nonprofits like Three Square Food Bank will continue to supplement CCSD food distribution programs.
"What's critical is our relationship and communication with CCSD," said Larry Scott, with Three Square. "As long as they continue to have the ability to feed them, it eliminates some of the pressure that we have. When that begins to cease, we will certainly have to pick that ball back up."
Scott says he believes general food insecurity in the valley will continue to rise as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
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In 2020 the Three Square Food Bank distributed 56 million meals, according to Scott, and in 2021 they expect to distribute 65 million more.
"There are so many food-insecure children in our community," Scott said. "We will be there for them."
He says the food bank has had to rise to the challenge without volunteers in their three warehouses, but it has been planning to bring them back in small groups.
"We're just starting to open those doors back up, and we're excited about that," he said.
Scott also says he plans to bring volunteers back in the building by March 1, the same day in-person learning begins again.
And people can apply to lend a hand on the Three Square Food Bank website.
