Baltimore City Schools will offer free meals to its approximately 80,000 students during the novel coronoavirus two-week closure.  

Dr. Sonja Santelises, Baltimore City Schools CEO, announced Friday morning that the school system would set up emergency food distribution sites across the city that will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. The food will be available to all students 18 and younger.  She also stressed that they're reaching out to others in the community who are older than 18 and use the school system.

"Meals are also available to persons with disabilities over the age of 18 who participate in school programs for people who are mentally or physically disabled," she said.

There are ten meal pickup sites and the city school system has created a COIVD-19 health updates page.  

For academic support, school staff will email instructional packets Monday. They can also be picked up from a child’s school 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

Santelises said not all families can get access to online classes or virtual tutoring.

"The challenge we face is the equity challenge," she said. "If you can’t guarantee in every zip code every neighborhood young people can facetime with a teacher,  than it’s really difficult to make that a district wide policy."

She also said her janitorial staff will be disinfecting the 150 school buildings, school buses, and the 400 taxi cabs the district uses.