Area children might not be physically going to their schools during Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay at home order, but they’re still doing school work.
And thanks to some nutrition workers, bus drivers and support personnel in both the Surry County and Mount Airy school systems, they’re still getting fed.
The workers involved in that feeding effort learned this week their pay will be bumped up.
Shortly after Cooper first closed schools to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, both systems set up food distribution operations at local campuses starting March 16, where parents could drive up and be given both lunch and breakfast food for their children. All youth younger than 18, regardless of family income, are eligible.
Both school systems quickly expanded those locations as demand rose, and have made arrangements for some deliveries using school buses.
Those nutrition and support workers got a bit of good news this week: their pay is being increased for the hours they’re on the job, to time-and-a-half of their regular rate. For Surry County employees, the pay rate is in effect from April 1 through April 30. For Mount Airy workers, it appears the pay hike will be effective for as long as they work under the governor’s orders to keep schools closed, although it wasn’t clear if that’s retroactive to March 16.
Money to pay for the increases is coming from state and federal COVID-19 relief funds.
“There is nothing we can do to truly pay our front line workers for what they are doing, which is meeting the challenge in extremely difficult times,” said Dr. Travis Reeves, Surry County Schools superintendent. “These dedicated employees are providing essential support for our students to learn, to be sustained, and to be nourished through the free grab ’n go meal service they are providing at 14 school sites, and delivered to homes and community stops using yellow school buses.”
“We are proud of our staff for being front-line workers in the fight against COVID-19,” said Dr. Kim Morrison, Reeves’ counterpart with Mount Airy City Schools. “We want to make our community safe and make sure their basic needs are met. This is a small way that we can help these staff members understand how important they are to our district and our community.”
“As the suspension of school has been extended and Gov. Cooper has ordered families to stay home, the number of students needing meal delivery has greatly increased,” the city schools said in a release from Carrie Venable, public information officer and special projects facilitator.
“Day one totals of meals served was 302. By the end of the first week, daily totals were over 1,500 and those have jumped to over 2,100 by day 11. Employees in Mount Airy City Schools have delivered a total of 16,832 since Monday, March 16.”
By comparison, she said the normal workload on nutrition workers during a typical school day would be 593 breakfasts and 1,122 lunches.
“This increase in meals served demands longer hours and Mount Airy City Schools recognizes this critical need during the COVID-19 event. These staff members are on the front lines serving families in a time of crisis.”
The story is similar in Surry County, though on a larger scale as 19 campuses teach about 8,000 kids.
“Since March 16, our school nutrition staff have prepared and served 76,590 meals,” Reeves said Wednesday. “The Surry County Board of Education and I are so appreciative of all of the hard work and effort, the flexibility, and the willingness to overcome the many obstacles that have come our way.”
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Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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