Cobb schools to provide student meals for rest of school year

New East Cobb Middle School

Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced Thursday that the Cobb County School District is working with MUST Ministries to provide breakfasts and lunches to any students who need them for the rest of the school year.

During a teleconferenced school board work session, Ragsdale said that students may pick up a week’s worth of those meals each Monday, starting this coming Monday, March 23, at one of eight schools in the district, including East Cobb Middle School.

Only the student will be provided the food, and each student must be present to receive the meals. Ragsdale said students will not have to show their IDs.

The meals will be prepared by the school district’s food services staff, and MUST Ministries volunteers will deliver the food boxes on a drive-through basis in front of the school buildings.

The pickup times are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at the following locations:

Acworth Elementary School (4220 Cantrell Road, Acworth)
Bryant Elementary School (6800 Factory Shoals Road, Mableton)
Campbell HS (5265 Ward Street, Smyrna)
Compton Elementary School (3450 New Macland Road, Powder Springs)
East Cobb Middle School (825 Terrell Mill Road, Marietta)
Garrett Middle School (5235 Austell-Powder Springs Road, Austell)
Osborne High (2451 Favor Road, Marietta)
Riverside Intermediate School (285 South Gordon Road, Mableton)

Those schools have more than 50 percent of their students receiving reduced or free lunches.

Future pickups will continue to take place each Monday at those same locations and during those same hours.

Cobb and other public school districts and universities in Georgia are closed until March 31 at the order of Gov. Brian Kemp.

During Thursday’s work session, there was no discussion about how long the closures may last beyond that.

But Cobb school officials are clearly preparing for it to be much longer.

Later Thursday the school board was being asked to spend $3.4 million from the general fund to pay after-school program and nutritional workers and substitute teachers through the end of May, when the Cobb academic year ends.

As for the upcoming student meal provisions, Ragsdale said Cobb schools food service workers will be in kitchens with 10 or fewer people, per CDC guidelines on social distancing. MUST volunteers will pick up the food at the cafeteria doors, then provide them to students curbside.

Volunteers for the school meal program are needed, and you can sign up here on the MUST Ministries website.

The food service program is a continuation of a partnership between Cobb schools and MUST Ministries, which have set up times for special family food boxes to be picked this week at several locations.

That food comes from 29 school pantries, which were open starting Wednesday.

On Friday, those needing food may come by the following locations in East Cobb between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.: