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Brooke officials discuss food distribution

WELLSBURG — It’s not unusual for local school boards to bring together people of diverse opinions, but Monday’s meeting of the Brooke County Board of Education also brought together people in separate locations.

In an effort to comply with public health officials’ recommendations to remain at home when possible, the meeting was conducted by teleconference, with board members and other school officials and community members communicating with each other by phone.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Crook said the number of food distributions being conducted by staff and volunteers has been reduced to once a week but the same number of meals are being provided because much of it is prepackaged so it can be consumed later.

The distributions currently are held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Tuesday at the high school, the Brooke County Alternative Learning Center (formerly Millsop Primary School), Brooke Intermediate North (formerly Jefferson Primary School) and Brooke Primary South (formerly Wellsburg Primary School).

Crook applauded the efforts of cooks who assemble the meals following the usual sanitary precautions and other staff and volunteers who distribute the food and often deliver it.

But he also expressed concern about their potential exposure to the COVID-19 coronavirus while performing such tasks and said he and others will be looking at ways to reduce such contact.

The superintendent said while April 20 has been targeted for students to return to school, it seems likely that won’t occur until at least the end of the month.

He said with that in mind, staff are preparing to move from “blizzard bags,” packets of paper assignments normally used on days when school has been canceled because of inclement weather, to more online instruction.

The school board made plans to meet at 6 p.m. April 14, the day after its next usual meeting date due to a scheduling conflict. It’s not known whether it will be done again through teleconferencing.

Board members expressed hope the pandemic will be over soon and they will gather in the school district’s board office in the near future.

While applauding Deputy Superintendent Corey Murphy’s coordination of the teleconference, Board President Ted Pauls said, “Obviously this isn’t the way we’d like to have this meeting, but given the circumstances, it’s the way we have to have this meeting.”

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