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The Clay County Board of Education held an emergency meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, March 16, to address the district's plans to address Corona Virus and the resulting school closures. The topic of student meals was shared by Clay County School Superintendent Dale Cole. "In an effort to provide meals to children and assure they receive the nutrition they need to stay healthy and strong during the time that school is closed," Cole said. "The following plan will be implemented during the closure."
Starting Wednesday, March 18, breakfasts and lunches will be available to every child in the county, from ages 1 to 18. School busses will run twice a day to all regular bus stops or food may be picked up at the schools. Busses will leave the school at 8:15 a.m. with breakfasts and again at noon with lunch. Cole said the routes will be the same as normal pickup so add about two hours to the normal morning time to wait for the meals. The same procedure will be done at lunch.
"If there is no student or parent at the bus stop, the meal will not be dropped off," Cole said. "We have to check the names off the list to be reimbursed by the federal government."
In addition, breakfast and lunch meals will be available for curbside pick-up at Hayesville Elementary School starting at 8:15 a.m. until about 12 p.m. during the week. Families may stay in their cars and meals will be handed to them. That way, both meals may be picked up at once for all children in the household. For those who cannot get the food either way, the school's sheriff resource officers have volunteered to deliver the meals. Those who need delivery in another way should call the Central
Office-School Nutrition at (828) 389-8513. Cole said the plan will be revisited and adjusted accordingly at the end of the week, based on deliveries made and food picked up curb-side.
Cole added, "Please know that the cafeteria can also be used as a nutrition hub for families that can come and pick up food and food packs that have been donated throughout the community."
More details of emergency BOE meeting will be in this week's Clay County Progress. The regularly scheduled Clay County Board of Education meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 23, via Facebook Live. It will be closed to the public; however, anyone wishing to make public comment will be allowed entry one at a time to adhere to COVID-19 safety recommendations.