Oneonta School District Providing Free Meals to Families in Need

The Oneonta School District has stepped up to the plate, in this case the food plate, to help Oneonta area families cope with feeding their children who have been sent home due to the Governor Cuomo mandate on school closures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The district's Superintendent, Tom Brindley sent the following message to district families:

"With regard to meals for our students: Chartwells, our food service contractor, will begin providing walk-up/drive-thru food distribution points at Greater Plains, Riverside, Valleyview Elementary Schools, as well as the Oneonta Middle and Oneonta High School (on the middle school side of the campus), beginning on Tuesday, March 17th from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. and then running Monday thru Friday at least throughout the two-week closure. Easy-up tents will indicate these pick-up points. Those visiting these locations will receive two meals each day (both issued at the same time): 1) lunch for the current day, and 2) breakfast for the next day. For students residing at or near the following locations; Lantern Hill Mobile Home Park, Mountainview Mobile Home Park, the Silliman Cove area, the area near 124 Oneida Street, and the Fairview Street Apartment area, our transportation contractors, Birnie Bus, will deliver packaged meals to these locations at approximately 11:00 am. beginning this Tuesday, March 17th. This service will also run from Tuesday, March 17th through at least March 27th. Students will simply need to look for the Oneonta City School Bus in/near these locations. PLEASE NOTE: Since peanut butter will be provided at these distribution points bags will be marked with certain indicators. For example, a bag with the letter “P” written on it indicates a peanut-based food item. If you have a child with a food allergy, PLEASE pay particular attention to these very important labels.

We will also establish a way to continue the backpack program. I will send another update with such information once we have that established.

We will keep only essential personnel working during this closure. Please note that no visitors will be allowed to enter our buildings during this time. Please continue to call your child’s school or the District Office should you have any questions.

I wish you all great health now and always. PLEASE continue to visit our district website oneontacsd.org and click on the yellow banner for any future updates."