by Don Richeson –
Middlesex County Public Schools’ daily drive-through meal pick-up service will resume 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday, April 20 at Middlesex Elementary School. The announcement from Superintendent Peter Gretz came via email Sunday. “Since instructional packet pick ups are happening in the front lobby, we will be relocating the meal distribution to the parent pick-up loop on the side next to the gym,” Gretz said. “Delivery will continue as it has for those receiving meals at home.”
The service is intended to make sure students who normally receive free meals can continue to do so while schools are shuttered due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Meals prepared at MES were temporarily suspended when it was discovered that one of the meals staff had worked at a facility where a reported case of COVID-19 had been confirmed, according to a letter Gretz distributed to parents earlier this month.
The drive-through free meal distribution was set up at MES so hot meals featuring items like hamburgers and chicken patties could be prepared in the school’s cafeteria. Initially, MCPS had been distributing pre-packaged item cold meals using school buses deployed at various site around Middlesex.
For more on this developing story, be sure to check the April 23 print edition of the Southside Sentinel.
