MP kitchen staff under quarantine

MOUNTAIN PINE — The Mountain Pine School District has placed its entire kitchen staff on quarantine until Sept. 11 after one staff member tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Bobby Applegate said Monday.

The employee “came to work and wasn’t feeling good. So, I sent her

home, and the state (health) department said since she’s been around (the other employees), that we had to send everybody home,” Applegate said.

The district has five kitchen staff members, he said.

“She called me and told me as soon as she found out. When she contacted me, I contacted her point of contact person. The point of contact person contacted the Department of Health, and they gave her the initiative to send (the kitchen employees) home,” he said.

To manage the kitchen, the district has pulled some of the other employees from different departments, Applegate said, noting that they have stepped up to help.

“We have eight to 10 people in there. We have had some volunteers come in to help. We have it covered right now,” he said.

City Life Church of Hot Springs reached out to the district to help them in their time of need, Applegate said.

Bo Robertson, director at the Garland County Department of Emergency Management, informed the church of the service opportunity in the county, according to the church’s Facebook page.

“This gap will leave approximately 500 students without meals for 14 days. Emergency Management stated that they need 10 cooks per day. Food is already on site, and volunteers would be able to use the (MPSD) kitchen,” the post said.

The volunteers were unsure of the hours that would be needed to pull this off, but the City Life Church has “great cooks that might be able to give their expertise and time,” the church’s Facebook page said.

Robertson told City Life Church that they had the meals covered for Monday, but after that, there would currently be no one to serve, according to the post.

The post said volunteers are asked to contact The Salvation Army.