Emergency Committee: What More Can Be Done?

Feeding Kids When Schools Are Shut

Not long after the coronavirus closed Wallingford-Swarthmore school doors on March 13, families began asking Micah Knapp, president of the Nether Providence Board of Commissioners, about plans for feeding kids with the schools closed.

WSSD is an affluent district, but not uniformly. Hundreds of students in its five public schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. With school out for the indefinite future and businesses shutting their doors, families are worried. On March 14, Knapp discussed the situation with WSSD superintendent Lisa Palmer. 

On Monday, March 16, Palmer sent an email to all WSSD families outlining possible solutions to food insecurity. When notifying the community that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf had ordered all schools closed, she also offered emergency food information. “We know that food insecurity is a concern for a number of our families,” the email said. Palmer included addresses for local food banks, like the Foundry Church in Wallingford and Chester Eastside Ministries, along with links to their websites. She also invited families with unmet needs to contact Director of Student Services Megan McCullough for referrals to WSSD social workers.

But the Nether Providence Coronavirus Emergency Committee, which includes Knapp and fellow commissioners Matt Garson and Max Cooper (who is also a physician), was still worried. The school’s email seemed insufficient. 

Knapp reports that, when he pressed Palmer to take more action, she told him that — because less than 50% of WSSD students were enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) — there was little the district could do. 

In addition to pointing the school community to emergency food resources, Palmer’s March 16 email encouraged district residents to donate to “any of the resources that are assisting our community.” By March 19, a message on the WSSD website additionally encouraged residents to drop off Giant and Acme gift cards at the secure tax drop box outside the administrative offices. School social workers would distribute the cards to families who needed them, and also connect those families with additional resources.

Knapp was not satisfied. With the school district stuck, the Nether Providence emergency committee searched for a solution. 

What Other Districts Are Doing

Garson investigated nearby districts serving grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches during the shutdown. Like WSSD, the Lower Merion and Radnor school districts are largely affluent but include students qualifying for food assistance. Garson learned that both these districts sought and received state waivers allowing them to serve mobile meals.

On March 20, Garson and WSSD school board member Jennifer Lentz met by phone with Lower Merion Director of Nutritional Services Amy Buckman and Lower Merion Director of School and Community Relations Karen Castaneda. Superintendent Palmer and Business Administrator Martha Kew, busy preparing for web-based instruction during the closures, were unable to join the call, as were the other eight WSSD school board members. Buckman and Castaneda explained the process they had gone through to receive the COVID-19 waiver and offered help navigating the process.

Ordinarily, only school districts with more than 50% of students enrolled in the NSLP are permitted to serve meals in “non-congregate settings” — meaning somewhere other than schools — and to apply for reimbursement from the federal government for the cost of those meals. Given the current shuttering of schools, the commonwealth has set up COVID-19 waivers so that even more affluent districts, like WSSD and Lower Merion, can distribute meals under certain circumstances. Though their offices are closed and employees are working remotely, the Pennsylvania Department of Education is processing the waivers as fast as it can.

Since receiving its own waiver, Lower Merion has been providing boxed meals from the Suburban Square parking lot in Ardmore. Children can receive ten meals a week. In the Radnor school district, free bagged meals were delivered to families during the week of March 16, according to the district website. Distribution switched to a grab-and-go program from a central location starting March 23. Meals are available for students whose families are newly struggling with food insecurity, as well as those already enrolled in free and reduced meal programs.

The Rose Tree Media school district is also providing lunches for students, according to its website.

WSSD Superintendent Palmer said in a March 23 email that “WSSD does not qualify for the waiver to distribute food directly like Lower Merion does.” She did not explain why she believed this nor respond to requests for further information.

She also said that she had learned that WSSD families can enroll in Lower Merion’s program, driving to Ardmore to pick up lunches. “This would be an additional resource.”

WSSD Director of Student Services Megan McCullough said in an email, also on March 23, that district social workers will continue to communicate with families, connecting them with community resources and providing supermarket gift cards and groceries where needed.

The Role of Census Blocks

On March 24, Knapp contacted the commonwealth and asked why WSSD was ineligible for a COVID-19 waiver. 

Pennsylvania State Director of Child Nutrition Programs Vonda Ramp told Knapp that a school district could qualify for a waiver if it contained part of a U.S. Census block in which at least 50% of households qualify for free or reduced lunch — a so-called “eligible tract.” Lower Merion is using the Suburban Square shopping center for distribution because it lies in such a tract, unlike any of the district’s school buildings.

Ramp provided a map showing areas in the WSSD that could host a food distribution site under a waiver. Eligible parts of the district include some locations south and west of Nether Providence Elementary School and the Garden City area. 

Knapp continues to hear from community leaders who are worried about economically fragile families. “My concern is that this is a quiet, creeping issue.” As he emailed to his Nether Providence Third Ward constituents: “Need will grow as the coronavirus shutdown continues, people’s pantries empty, and more parents and guardians miss paychecks or lose their jobs.”