The Oklahoma State Department of Education reports 61 percent of students across the state qualify for either free or reduced lunches, but that number is closer to 80 percent for El Reno Public Schools.

Due to the higher number, El Reno has opted to keep its current delivery method for meals during the COVID-19 outbreak instead of following OSDE recommendations to limit exposure between schools and students for meals.

“We want to keep everyone safe and we are doing social distancing when we go out in the vans. We are wearing gloves and are constantly using hand sanitizer as we change gloves throughout the day.

“We try to use the same core group of people so that we are not taking a chance of exposing a large number of people. If anyone shows signs, we will get tested. We are taking every precaution to take care of the kids,” said Brooke Robertson, the district’s director of outreach.

Calumet schools has switched to handing out a week’s worth of meals on one day only and will have another food distribution on Tuesday, March 31.

Union City has been doing daily meals but is considering switching to weekly, according to Superintendent Todd Carel.

Robertson said such a method will not work in El Reno since many of the meals include fresh food. Crews preparing food arrive at the respective sites at 7 a.m.

“A lot of the food we are handing out won’t last a week in the fridge. We have been doing this awhile with our summer feeding program and we know what works best for us,” said Robertson.

Robertson said meal volume for a weekly distribution would be a monumental task.

Between school sites and the remote locations, El Reno handed out 1,071 meals the first two days.

Those numbers jumped to 700 on day three and Thursday there were 820 served with two meals each.

Robertson said before Friday’s meal deliveries that the district had served 2,540 students over the first four days with a total of 5,080 meals.

“It would be a daunting task to try and pass out a week’s worth of meals on our food trucks and sites. That would mean more than 4,300 meals.

“There is also a safety issue in getting the meals home when you have a small child having to try and carry a week’s worth of food at one time. Many of the kids we see have trouble carrying just two meals a day at one time,” said Robertson.

El Reno will be tweaking the time spent at remote sites due to the response of students. The following plan started midweek and will be used until further notice:

▶ Grab-and-go sites of Hillcrest, Rose Witcher, Roblyer and Etta Dale Learning Centers will operate from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday.

▶ Holbrook Addition food truck will operate from 9 to 9:45 a.m.

▶ Townsend Addition and neighboring streets will have a food truck from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m.

▶ Old Booker T. Washington School and surrounding areas will have a truck between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m.

▶ Frank Knight Park and surrounding areas will have a truck from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

▶ Legion Park at the city pool will have a truck between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.

Weekend food bags will be handed out along with meals on Fridays. Free books will also be distributed in partnership with Wesley United Methodist Church and its Project Transformation program.

“The child nutrition team has gone above and beyond in ordering and preparing good meals every day in this large quantity to ensure all kids are fed. They are the foundation that makes this possible and it could not happen without them,” said Robertson.