Pandemic leaves lasting impact on school food distribution services
The grab-and-go cafes spread throughout Norwalk’s high schools came out of necessity. Now, the satellite cafes are set to be a permanent feature in the city’s secondary schools.
When the coronavirus pandemic began in March, causing schools to operate entirely remote, districts and communities were forced to adapt quickly, ensuring students continued to receive their meals. And it appears several of these innovations will continue even post-pandemic.
“We reviewed different ways to operate food services given the new challenges as well as opportunities,” Chief of School Operations Frank Costanzo said. “Our model has evolved over time.”
In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture offered waivers on meal fees and certain distribution restrictions typical in some USDA programs. The waivers were extended multiple times, and free meals for every child 18 and under are available through June 30, according to a USDA statement.
When schools began reopening in the fall, Norwalk’s meal distribution once again necessitated adjustments.
To prevent crowding and maintain social distancing, the senior director of special projects for Norwalk Public Schools’ dining services company, Kevin McGinn, developed the satellite cafes, Costanzo said.
“We service three to five sites open for breakfast and lunch, and certain students go to certain sites,” McGinn said. “I see that continuing in the future as well. It’s more collegial, less dense, more social.”
McGinn and Costanzo said they both see the cafe sites as a permanent fixture for Norwalk’s high schools that resulted from the pandemic.
For a period in late spring, the students receiving free meals had meals delivered to their designated bus stops.
As the pandemic progressed and it became evident the districts would need to operate under a modified system indefinitely, Norwalk located central areas to offer meals for pickup. Currently, there are nine meal distribution sites.
“You look at the Norwalk map of the schools, where they’re geographically located, the density of the population in town, and make deliberate decisions on where food locations ought to be,” Costanzo said.
With the increase in access and new methods of distribution, the number of children reached, and meal distributed more than doubled, McGinn said.
Traditionally, the district served 60,000 meals a month and 15,000 meals a week. In May, 140,000 meals were distributed with an average of 35,000 weekly, McGinn said.
Danbury Public Schools, which only began on a hybrid learning model in January, schools also attempted to deliver meals early in the pandemic to bus stops, but found the method unsuccessful, Danbury Food Services Director Barry Mollengarden said.
As in Norwalk, food deserts were created in innercity areas where Danbury residents did not have access to transportation.
“We were doing home delivery for a bit, if there were special needs families or single parents with several children,” Mollengarden said.
The most significant and anticipated lasting change in Danbury’s distribution is in the safety and packaging of foods. Foods will be individually packaged, and selfserving stations will be removed permanently, he said.
“Things like the salad bar will be staff-distributed,” Mollengarden said. “In the past, they were customerdriven.”
Despite the change in distribution and employment of similar tactics to Norwalk, the number of meals served has remained steady since the pandemic began, according to Mollengarden.
In Westport, food services for the district’s schools work closely with the human services department.
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the necessity to develop new and alter existing food distribution programs, Westport’s human services department worked under a largely hands-off approach, offering grocery store gift cards and referring families in need to local food pantries and charitable organizations, Director of Human Services Elaine Diagnault said.
Diagnault said she sees the hand-on work facilitated by COVID-19 continuing long after the pandemic.
“I anticipate we will continue to be collaborating and not everyone working in their own bubbles,” she said. “I think this will be long-standing.”