Chicago Public Schools halts service at meal sites after a protest-filled weekend

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has temporarily closed its meal service sites on Monday after a weekend of area protests in response to the death of George Floyd turned violent.

“Based on the evolving nature of activity across the city, we are suspending grab-and-go meal sites,” Chicago Public Schools (CPS) said in a tweet Sunday evening. 

In a press conference earlier today, Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said that the decision to halt service was out of concern for the safety of employees as well as students and their families.

“Ensuring that our employees are safe is of primary importance to me. I’m concerned about what's happening all across the city, our students and families live in all 78 of the communities across Chicago,” she stated. “Many of our students are walking alone. We don't have safe passage workers out there, we don't know if there's enough police coverage in every area. So, my job is to make sure that people are safe and that's how we arrived at the decision that we made today.”

The school district, which is the nation's third-largest, said that it would still be delivering 18,000 pre-scheduled meals to those who have signed up for its meal delivery service program. Jackson also said that the district has additional food on hand to serve any other families needing meal assistance and encouraged them to contact the district’s hotline to schedule a delivery.

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The districts says it is monitoring the situation and hopes to resume regular meal service tomorrow. 

CPS has continued to provide meals to students since switching over to remote learning in the middle of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.