On Monday, buses rolled up to schools across the county, but they weren’t carrying students to class.
Rather, the buses carried loads of food to be distributed to students struggling with food insecurity during a statewide schools closure.
MCPS began last week distributing lunches to students at 20 sites.
During a conference call with school board members on Monday, MCPS Chief Operating Officer Andy Zuckerman said there are now 47 sites throughout the county where children can get free meals.
Last week, MCPS distributed more than 87,000 meals to children younger than 18.
To further assist families, MCPS also partnered with Manna Food Center to distribute “backpack food sacks” on Friday at some sites in high-poverty communities. The packs included food and snacks for the weekend.
Children younger than 18 and MCPS students of any age can visit meal sites between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays; student identification is not needed. Each site has both a drive-thru and walk-up format, and children receive breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
MCPS Deputy Superintendent Monifa McKnight on Monday said the school district expects more sites to become available in the coming weeks, including at some schools’ kitchens. But there are state and federal guidelines about where they are placed, which are taking time to accommodate, she said.
The first 20 sites were the same places where MCPS distributes summer meals to students, generally in areas with high concentrations of students who qualify for free and reduced-priced school meals.
“We already had systems in place in areas with high FARMS rates, but this requires expanding to other communities,” McKnight said. “We have to work through many different state guidelines and federal guidelines to do that, and that’s why for some areas, it’s taken more time to expand to.”
MCPS meal sites:
- Arcola Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Brown Station Elementary School, Gaithersburg
- Burnt Mills Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Captain James Daly Elementary School, Germantown
- East Silver Spring Elementary School
- Galway Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Georgian Forest Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Glen Haven Elementary School, Wheaton
- Greencastle Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Harmony Hills Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Highland Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Jackson Road Elementary School, Silver Spring
- JoAnn Leleck Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Kemp Mill Elementary School, Silver Spring
- New Hampshire Estates Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Oak View Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Rolling Terrace Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Roscoe Nix Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Judith A. Resnik Elementary School, Gaithersburg
- South Lake Elementary School, Gaithersburg
- Twinbrook Elementary School, Rockville
- Washington Grove Elementary School
- Weller Road Elementary School, Silver Spring
- Argyle Middle School, Silver Spring
- Roberto Clemente Middle School, Germantown
- Francis Scott Key Middle School, Silver Spring
- Gaithersburg Middle School
- Martin Luther King Jr., Middle School, Germantown
- Montgomery Village Middle School
- Parkland Middle School, Rockville
- Shady Grove Middle School, Gaithersburg
- Earle B. Wood Middle School, Rockville
- Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring
- Clarksburg Elementary School
- Albert Einstein High School, Kensington
- Gaithersburg High School
- John F. Kennedy High School, Wheaton
- Col. Zadok Magruder, Derwood
- Northwest High School, Germantown
- Paint Branch High School, Burtonsville
- Damascus Gardens Apartments
- Germantown Mobile Home Park
- Nob Hill Apartments, Silver Spring
- Pembridge/Amherst Apartments, Silver Spring
- Clopper Mill Elementary School, Germantown
- Forest Park Apartments, Silver Spring
- Great Seneca Creek Elementary School, Germantown.
