Screenshot of ‘WTAE Listens’ featuring Jennie Smith, left, and Megan Van Fossan, right.
Sto-Rox School District was held up as an example of fighting food insecurity on the latest edition of WTAE Listens. The episode aired Sunday morning and featured Superintendent Megan Van Fossan and the district’s Restorative Practice Coordinator Jennie Smith, from the Just Discipline Project at the University of Pittsburgh.
WATCH: WTAE Listens Episode Featuring Sto-Rox
“Our responsibility goes way beyond the reading and the writing and the ABC’s and the 123’s,” Superintendent Van Fossan told the host, WTAE’s Kristen Powers. “We have to think about the whole child.”
The superintendent and Smith spoke about the adverse effects that hunger can have on children, especially when they are trying to learn. Earlier this Fall, Sto-Rox School District started offering dinner three days a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. - to ensure students have three meals per day.
Additionally, the district sends K-6 children home on Friday with ‘blessing bags,’ bags of non-perishable food that students can take home for the weekend. The Vikings Den at the Jr./Sr. High School also features food for students.
This all comes as the district prepares for a Community Dinner at the Jr./Sr. High School on Wednesday, November 15 from 5 - 7 p.m. Donations of either food or money are encouraged; the meal is free to all district families.
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