Sunnyside Unified School District is preparing meals to go for kids during the closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools across Tucson are working to feed and still teach their students even as schools are closed through the end of the year.
Sunnyside Unified School District has been serving grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches to kids at 10 schools since mid-March. As of this week, meals are also being served from buses at 28 at locations around the district on Tucson's south side. In total, they’re feeding about 4,000 students a day.
"Public schools have really become hubs for critical social services for not just students but families as well," said spokesperson Marisela Felix. "For a district like ours, the current school closures are exposing major equity gaps, and the challenge to continue to support our families is greater than ever."
Felix says the district has also transitioned to online instruction, helped by the fact that all fourth through 12th graders are issued laptops at the beginning of the school year. The district has been reaching out to families with younger children to get them loaner laptops as well.
Families that don't have internet at home can connect from school parking lots. Buses where meals are served also have Wi-Fi networks.
See this Arizona Daily Star list of places providing meals for children.
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