Detroit schools revamping food distribution amid employee illnesses

Detroit Public Schools are revamping food distribution because employees are becoming sick.

"More and more employees are becoming ill," Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a statement. "This is why the current structure will be discontinued."

The district plans to shut down food distribution Tuesday and Wednesday, before resuming it on Thursday from 17 locations. The district will then distribute food two days a week, handing out multiple meals per visit.

On Thursday, students will receive a bag of four precooked breakfast meals and four precooked lunches to last through the weekend. On Monday, they will receive three breakfasts and three lunches, the district said. Medically fragile students will receive their multiple meals delivered to their homes.

The idea is to reduce the number of interactions between staffers and the public in an attempt to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus.

Detroit, like districts across the state, has been providing grab-and-go meals to students who would normally qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school. Last week, the district distributed more than 70,000 meals.

On Monday, the district informed families of the stoppage in a robocall, initially tying it to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay home order.

"All (Detroit school) distribution sites will be discontinued after today, March 23, due to Gov. Whitmer's executive order to shelter in place,"  the robocall said.

Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said the order doesn't prevent school food distribution.

"Gov. Whitmer is committed to ensuring that Michigan students have access to the food they need during the COVID-19 pandemic," Brown said. "Under the governor's executive order, K-12 school food services are considered critical infrastructure and should continue. The governor deeply appreciates the vital work that our frontline school employees are doing every day to ensure that our kids have the food they need while the order is in effect."

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Asked for details, the district clarified that the halt was related to safety concerns.

"Although we understand the governor's executive order to 'shelter in place,' it has led to more employees being uncomfortable with working within the current structure of the Detroit Pubic Schools Community District distribution sites," Vitti said.

The district wouldn't say how many district employees or contractors have become ill.

"We have received several self-confirmed cases from employees and contractors across the district," spokeswoman Chrystal Wilson said. "We are continuing to work with the health department, however due to the large amount of confirmations in a short period of time we are not able to track confirmations in real time."

Wilson said the district is reacting as quickly as it can to employee illnesses.

"When we receive a self-confirmed case from an employee, we notify staff and advise of the proper guidelines if they have been exposed or if they are manifesting any of the described COVID-19 symptoms," she said.

Vitti said the district was working to restructure the program in a safer way and that more details would be released soon.

Other districts contacted by the Free Press said they planned to continue to distribute food as they did last week. Madison School Superintendent Angel Abdulahad said the governor's order allows districts to continue distribution and his district planned to proceed as normal. 

"Based on governor's order ... we can identify those employees and or positions that are necessary to continue on basic operations of food distribution to our students," Abdulahad said. "We are taking all necessary precautions, from social distancing, gloves, masks, etc., to ensure our employees are safe while preparing and distributing food."

Others said the same thing.

"The governor's order exempted food distribution activities," said Huron Valley school spokeswoman Kim Root. "We will not suspend Huron Valley's program at this time."

West Bloomfield will continue its program as well, spokesman Daniel Durkin said. 

"We believe our food service employees are essential workers per the governor's order," he said.

Other districts said they were reviewing their distribution programs but didn't plan any immediate changes.

"Currently, we offer pick up and delivery to multiple bus stops in our community three days per week," said Clarenceville School Superintendent Paul Shepich. "We will continue to do so for the remainder of this week and then re-evaluate our service for the following two weeks.  We may adjust our schedule based on our data from our first two weeks of distribution."

Avondale schools also were making changes, but mostly for operational purposes, spokeswoman Annette McAvoy said.

"We are planning to continue our food distributions but are adjusting the locations to accommodate need and resources," McAvoy said, adding those adjustments would be communicated to families once they were finalized.

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com On Twitter @jwisely