Does feeding KC-area schoolchildren put cafeteria workers at risk for coronavirus?
In the rush to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic, some area school districts have inadvertently put their nutrition staff and others at risk.
Most cafeteria workers are voluntarily serving meals to students. They receive their regular salary, but it’s not nearly enough to compensate them for jeopardizing their health.
Cafeteria employees suddenly find themselves on the front lines in a pandemic, many working in low-wage positions that have become far more perilous. Some districts offer part-time nutrition staff accrued paid sick leave and health insurance. Others don’t.
All school districts should take steps now to provide cafeteria workers with those health-related benefits, along with free COVID-19 testing. Cafeteria workers and school food delivery drivers should not be forced to purchase their own protective gear, either.
Stay-at-home orders forced schools to shut down. In the weeks since, several positive coronavirus cases have been reported among cafeteria staff.
Kansas City Public Schools temporarily suspended its grab-and-go meal program amid concerns that a member of the district’s school nutrition team had contracted coronavirus.
The staff member later tested negative for COVID-19, Superintendent Mark Bedell said. And meals-to-go resumed with some modifications.
New protocols include reducing the number of workers at each site and modifying curbside pick-up. Workers already used gloves, masks and had their temperature taken. Those practices will continue, officials said.
Raytown Schools also suspended its program for a week after a food handler tested positive for COVID-19. Other districts such as North Kansas City Schools have stopped using bus service to distribute meals.
The Tonganoxie School District in Kansas recently resumed feeding schoolchildren. The program was halted for two weeks in March after a cafeteria worker tested positive for the coronavirus.
District officials made several changes they hope will prevent the spread of the disease. Workers will be screened with infrared thermometers and will be required to wear masks, gloves and protective clothing.
Every other day, students will be offered a total of four meals to cover two days. Social distancing guidelines will still be in effect, Superintendent Loren Feldkamp told The Star Editorial board.
Nationally, efforts are underway to provide the necessary tools for cafeteria workers to protect themselves.
Representatives from the School Nutrition Association have been in talks with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Congress about the lack of access to face masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, said spokeswoman Diane Pratt-Heavner.
“We have asked the CDC for industry-specific guidelines,” she said. “We hope to see action on this very soon. It’s a difficult issue. Trying to mobilize and feed children is a tremendous challenge.”
Cafeteria and school meal delivery workers around the Kansas City metro area are putting themselves at risk.
Students without access to three meals a day need to be fed. In Kansas City, Lee’s Summit, Tonganoxie and all of the districts in between, it’s up to local school officials to safely distribute nutritious meals to students while protecting their staff.
With little time to prepare for a school shutdown, districts were left scrambling to patch together plans to ensure that students didn’t go hungry during this public health crisis. To their credit, they moved quickly to create meal delivery plans.
But protecting the health of nutrition staff — and providing every employee doing this important work with essential gear and basic health benefits — must be a priority.