Tonganoxie and Raytown schools stop lunch programs after workers catch coronavirus
The Tonganoxie and Raytown school districts announced Monday they are temporarily discontinuing their lunch distribution programs after workers involved with meal preparations tested positive for the new coronavirus.
The Tonganoxie school district will shut down its lunch delivery program for the next two weeks, officials announced on Facebook Monday. The district had launched what it called the Tongie drive-thru when schools were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There, parents could drive up and be handed bagged lunches and breakfast for their children at certain times Monday through Friday. In some cases, students themselves were showing up on bikes, and food service workers loaded their backpacks with one or two of the free meals.
The Tonganoxie school district said it served an average of about 360 students per day over the past ten days since the program started.
Now, that has stopped.
Superintendent Loren Feldkamp said school officials have alerted parents where their children can receive meals from other school districts while Tonganoxie re-evaluates its program.
“We have had several school districts reach out to us and offer that service which is very appreciative,” Feldkamp said.
The school district is seeking to work with churches and other groups to provide meals for students.
The food worker in Tonganoxie did not come in direct contact with any students or their families and was only involved with meal preparations, officials said.
Feldkamp said the school district is following the guidelines and recommendations from the Leavenworth County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The school district’s food director is currently under quarantine, which presents another challenge, Feldkamp said.
“It is off the charts of how this has affected us,” Feldkamp said. “This is unprecedented. Everyday it seems like there is a new issue coming up.”
“We are doing our very best to provide a good educational experience to our students through the end of May,” Feldkamp said. “We are doing our best. We are concerned about their academic performance and we are also concerned about their health.”
Raytown worker tested positive
Officials in Raytown said the school district temporarily canceled its student lunch delivery program after officials learned that a worker at Raytown Middle School has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Last week, the district provided meals for more than 3,000 students. School officials have been contact with local churches, community groups and other school districts to help them provide to students, said Danielle Nixon, district spokeswoman.
“The entire district effort has been postponed while we look at our policies and procedures just to make sure that it will not happen again to the best of our ability,” Nixon said.
The worker who tested positive for COVID-19 had only worked at the Raytown Middle School location last Monday. The worker helped prepare meals that were delivered Tuesday.
School officials learned Sunday evening that the worker had been diagnosed with COVID-19, Nixon said.
On Monday evening, the district said it will resume serving lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at Raytown Schools Education and Conference Center, 10750 East State Route 350. Meals will be delivered to a family’s vehicle.
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 2:36 PM.
