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New Madrid County R-1 School district feeds students despite closure
NEW MADRID, Mo. — The pace was steady. Hands worked rapidly making sandwiches, packing paper bags and filling coolers.
In just a few short hours, 2,800 meals were on their way across the New Madrid County R-1 School District Monday morning. It was the first day of what school officials dubbed “NMCR1 Operation Feed the Children.”
With the closing of schools in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, R-1 officials began working on a plan to deliver meals to the students spread across the district’s 470 square miles. It is a challenge, admitted R-1 Superintendent Dr. Sam Duncan, but one he believed the district was meeting.
“The people involved are amazing,” he said from behind his protective face mask. “They are a God-send for this district. There has not been one moment in the planning of this that anyone has said one word of frustration. It has been just a tremendous experience to watch and to listen to the people that we have doing this. Everybody is in it for the kids and it is just amazing to see.”
As the school personnel arrive at New Madrid Elementary School, which is serving as the central distribution point, each sanitizes their hands, dons a protective face mask and has their temperature taken. Duncan explained every precaution is being taken to ensure the food is safe and germ-free when it arrives to students.
Just as when the students are in school, the menu varies each day. On Monday lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, green salad, carrots or broccoli and milk
Along with a lunch bag, each student received breakfast for the next day. That bag included milk, cereal, fruit and yogurt.
At 9:30 a.m., 10 buses rolled away. According to Duncan, the district intends to deliver the meals between 10:30 a.m. and noon, or approximately three and half hours after the bus would normally show up at a student’s front door.
“We do basically door-to-door bus stops during the year and we will do the same bus stops (for the food delivery) so it won’t be very far for a student to have to walk in order to get the meal,” he said.
Drivers wear their protective face masks as they drive their routes. However, Duncan said, when at a stop where students are waiting to receive their meals, drivers are encouraged to pull their masks down and offer a greeting.
“It is OK to give the students a smile and at least to say kind words to them. We want to try to let them know that we care about them and everything is going to be all right,” Duncan explained.
As the first week of delivery continued, school officials continued to fine tune the operation. By Friday, the district was delivering meals to an average of 890 to 1,000 children Monday through Friday.
Duncan praised the families for their patience. If a child is missed and the district learns about it by a phone call to Anthony Young, director of district operations, who is leading the effort, or through a post to the District’s Facebook page, a resource officer then delivers the meal.
He said by Thursday most problems had been worked out.
Ashley Long, principal at New Madrid Elementary School, was aboard a bus as it made its rounds. She admitted being out of school because of fear of a pandemic is stressful and she worries about her students.
Helping prepare and deliver the meals is one way she is dealing with her concerns.
“I love the fact that I can be involved in feeding the kids, getting it out there to them,” she said. “Especially just getting to see them for a few minutes, to let them know we are thinking about them and to tell them: ‘We miss you. Stay safe. Stay healthy. We hope to see you very soon’.”
New Madrid Elementary Principal Toni Phelps-Lawfield also worked in the preparation and then took a seat on the bus that traveled through much of New Madrid stopping at each home where they were aware a student lived.
She said when the bus doors opened, the students were surprised to see their principal aboard and handing out the meals. Phelps-Lawfield acknowledged social distancing doesn’t always work with the youngest students.
“Kids are very fast. They have you hugged before you realize,” she said with a laugh. “It is very hard to tell a kid you can’t hug.”
Duncan praised all the school personnel involved with the effort to feed the students. For the many others who sought to volunteer, Duncan offered his thanks and a suggestion.
“I would say while we are not able in this situation to call in volunteers, the one thing we would ask you to do is just pray,” he said. “Say a prayer for this thing to get over with fast, say a prayer to have things get back to normal, say a prayer for healing, but most importantly pray for the kids and for the people doing this work.”
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Parents in the district who would like their students to receive a meal delivery can still sign up on the internet by going to the district’s website, nmceaglenation.com. In the event that a parent is unable to submit a form, they can e-mail sduncan@newmadridco.k12.mo.us.
If a student is missed or if a family does not want a delivery they should call Anthony Young at call 573-748-0570.