Latest news with #MorganCountySchools
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Schools, local organizations to provide meals during summer
May 30—Morgan County Schools, which is having a food give-away Saturday, is one of several entities providing food assistance to people in the county during the summer when students are home. Beginning at 9 a.m. at Brewer High School, 59 Eva Road in Somerville, and continuing until the food is gone, volunteers will distribute a truck full of food in Wipe Out Hunger Day. No registration is required. "We plan to feed over 300 families, and we will have over 100 volunteers there to help," said Superintendent Tracie Turrentine. "It is one of my favorite days for my own kids and I to serve others." Morgan County Schools also provides free breakfast to students enrolled in its June summer school program. While 59% of Morgan County Schools students — about 4,500 of them — receive free and reduced lunches during the school year, fewer than 500 receive meals through the school during the summer. From Monday to June 26, Decatur City Schools will offer free breakfast and lunch to any Morgan County child 18 years old or younger at 12 of its schools: Austin High, Austin Middle, Career Academies of Decatur, Eastwood Elementary, Austinville Elementary, Banks-Caddell Elementary, Woodmeade Elementary, Oak Park Elementary, Frances Nungester Elementary, Julian Harris Elementary, Benjamin Davis Elementary, and Chesnut Grove Elementary. Jenny Newton, DCS child nutrition program supervisor, said the children don't need to be enrolled in DCS to receive a meal. A parent or other family member can't pick up a meal for a child, though; the child must be present on the school grounds to receive the food. DCS will be going into its second year as a Community Eligibility Provision location — a program that helps schools in low-income areas to provide breakfast and lunch to all students free of charge. "Nutrition is very important to students in the learning process," Newton said. "It is very hard to pay attention when you're hungry, ... so I feel like that's one of the most important things we can do for a student is make sure that they are well fed when they go in the classroom, so they can put their full focus on learning." Newton said 75% of DCS families qualify for free or reduced cost lunches. Newton said most of those fed at the DCS locations during the summer are students who participate in summer school or are already on a campus. About 30 million students nationwide are enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's school breakfast and lunch program, but only one in six of these children receive meals through participating locations during the summer, according to the USDA. In a year-round mission, Decatur Neighborhood Christian Center will continue to provide food and clothing on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to 11 a.m. "With the kids home for the summer, there will be more mouths to feed for families because of them not being in school and getting the school lunches," said Pamela Bolding, executive director of NCC, "so we'll see more people this summer who need food." Ashley Boyd, executive director of the Committee on Church Cooperation, said the number of people using their food pantry services keeps increasing. "Volunteers are always welcome and always needed. ... I know everyone is so tired of hearing about the economy, but there are more people utilizing us than ever before," Boyd said. "It continues to rise." CCC estimates there were more than 12,000 pantry visits this past year. CCC takes the specific needs of the families it serves into consideration. "We do try to tailor our food pantry especially for parents with school-aged children who may be struggling with affording child care, making sure they have the foods they need and foods that the kids themselves can prepare if need be," Boyd said. Many other families rely on summer camps and youth programming as a source of meals. This year, Decatur Youth Services will partner with DCS to provide the children participating in Camp Safe Haven with warm meals for breakfast and lunch. In previous years, the meals were not warm. "We're a low-income camp, so being able to have somewhere that provides breakfast and lunch that's hot and not cold for the kids is a blessing," said Johnny Jones, the DYS summer program coordinator. "A lot of those kids don't really get those meals very often." The camp, which begins Tuesday, will serve about 115 students this summer. Jones said providing these meals lets campers know someone cares about them. "That's something we're very happy to be a part of and happy to feed those kids any way we can," Newton said. The USDA automatically enrolls families who receive help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or other income-based meal benefits in a program called SUN Bucks. During the summer, these families can receive $120 per eligible student to use toward grocery expenses. People can also visit to locate food banks near them and seek help applying for SNAP benefits. Morgan County has 15 food banks listed on the Feeding Alabama website. — or 256-340-2437
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Local school systems prepare to implement cellphone ban
May 29—Area school systems are beginning to prepare for the implementation of a law that takes effect next school year that will ban students from possessing a cellphone during the school day. The FOCUS Act, which stands for Freeing our Classrooms of Unnecessary Screens for Safety, became law in this year's recent legislative session and will ban students next school year from using, operating or possessing a wireless communications device in public K-12 schools during the instructional day. The law is subject to certain exceptions, such as students who need them in conjunction with a medical device. State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, voted for the law in the recently completed legislative session. "I support it, and the reason is I have heard from parents and numerous school teachers and administrators who very much wanted to get the phones out of the classroom," Orr said. "They were a huge distraction. They were causing unnecessary drama among the students and many were relieved to see them get banned." Limestone County Schools Superintendent Randy Shearouse said the current cellphone rules in his district are less restrictive than the state ban. Under the Limestone rules, which have been in place for two years, students can have cellphones in their possession but they cannot use them except after school hours, Shearouse said. "They could not have them out in class or out in the building or halls or anything like that unless a teacher allowed them to in class for some instructional exercise," he said. "That's kind of what we've been living by. Actually, our students have been very appreciative of that and have stated that more conversations were happening at lunch because everyone is not on their cellphones looking at them." Shearouse has heard some concerns about the ban from parents. "A lot of parents feel good about (students) having them on them in case an emergency happens," Shearouse said. Shearouse is awaiting clarification on exactly what the school will do with the phones during school hours, say for students who don't have cars or lockers. There is technology that allows students to lock down their phone while it is in their possession and only access it after hours, Shearouse said. "We were told we were going to get some clarification on the bill, so we are kind of waiting on that," he said. "The school board association is going to send something out soon explaining exactly what this requirement is. ... Then we will develop procedures and policies based on what those parameters are and what those guidelines are." Gov. Kay Ivey was a proponent of the ban. After signing the act, she said, "Smart phones have beneficial roles when used in proper settings. However, these often-disruptive devices have no place in our classrooms during the school day except for educational purposes or during an emergency." Morgan County Schools is preparing to implement the cellphone ban. "Our storage requirements will be students must turn off and store their devices off their person and in lockers, cars or similar storage locations during the instructional day," Superintendent Tracie Turrentine said. She said she would "provide further updates and guidance as the new school year and implementation date approaches." Decatur City Schools hasn't worked out a plan for complying with the FOCUS Act but will do so this summer, Deputy Superintendent Dwight Satterfield said. They, too, are waiting for clarification. The current rules at DCS allow students to have cellphones on their person but they can't have them out in class, he said. The FOCUS Act applies only to public schools, but private schools are also looking at how best to manage student cellphone use. "I think there is a big difference between managing and banning cellphones," said Robby Parker, head of school at Lindsay Lane Christian Academy. "Just saying you can't bring one is not realistic in the world we live in, so you manage it." Next school year they will be banned for Lindsay Lane's K-6 students. "For the little ones, we're going to say you can't bring a cellphone," Parker said, because he doesn't think they need them at that age. Students in grade 7-10, and possibly 11, will be allowed to bring their phones but they will surrender them to the first block teacher who will store them in a case, he said. After school they can have the phones back. In grades 12 and possibly 11 — they haven't decided how the rules will apply to 11th graders — students will be able to have cellphones but will turn them in at the beginning of each class and collect them at the end of each class. Parker said one reason the older students will be able to have their phones more is because the school wants the students to learn to use them properly. "We want them to have their phones because they are soon to be out in the world, and 11th and 12th graders are much more responsible. Some of them are in dual-enrollment classes. They may need to communicate with a college professor, and many of them work and they need to be able to communicate between classes with their employers," Parker said. He said there may be a class assignment where cellphones are needed. "In that case we will get them out and use them, but not every day," Parker said. The FOCUS Act also requires the State Department of Education to develop safe social media training for all students before eighth grade. "People say cellphones are the most dangerous thing a student can have, but I disagree with that," Parker said. "The most dangerous is their cars. We don't ban those, we manage them. Cellphones are the same." — or 256-340-2361
