Let's do lunch: Jacksonville program encourages 1st responders to visit city schools
Mar. 31—JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville city schools will begin a meal program for first responders that allows men and women who serve the city in that capacity to eat for free in the schools' cafeterias.
Jacksonville schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Howard announced the program at the regularly scheduled board of education meeting Thursday evening. A trial run will begin Monday.
In the wake of the shooting deaths that occurred at a private elementary school in Tennessee, Howard said, he wanted to find a way that he could take action and bolster community involvement at the same time.
"Something laid heavily on my heart after the tragedy in Tennessee that I wanted to find a way to have more people on our campuses throughout the day because if security is present then it deters a lot of bad issues," Howard said.
Howard said the school system was able to budget the program in as part of its "Safety Plan," and will use part of those funds in addition to part of what was left out of the school's Child Nutrition Program funds.
The program will be given a trial run starting Monday until the end of the school year to see how it goes. Howard said that though the idea was a little outside of the box, he was "super excited" about the endeavor.
Howard spoke with both Jacksonville police Chief Marcus Wood and fire Chief Keith Kadle to announce the program and encourage their agencies to participate.
First responders can come to either of the schools during lunch hours, sign in, and "we're going to feed them for free," Howard said.
"We want them to eat with our staff and our students and intermix and mingle and get to know each other and build relationships," Howard said.
The city provides three School Resource Officers for the schools, but the added presence, Howard said, will act as a strong deterrent.
Board member Jeff Gossett echoed Howard's statement, saying, "Any time that you have police officers or anyone in uniform like that, even when we have visitors of the Armed Forces or things like that, there's a certain air that's in the whole school."
In other news, the board recognized the high school's boys and girls basketball teams for their growth and accomplishments thus far.
"We had a tremendous year as far as growth and we had a huge deficit that we overcame," said varsity girls basketball coach Corey Mize.
High school Principal Russ Waits said that growth was impressive considering the age of the varsity team, with no seniors and only one junior on the team.
With the varsity boys team bringing home yet another state championship title, Waits had many great things to say about the team that brought those titles.
"These guys right here, they're legends. They're legends because people that went to school and people in this town, when they come back to Jacksonville Alabama, you're going to be remembered for what you did," Waits said.
Staff Writer Ashley Morrison: 256-236-1551. On Twitter: @AshMorrison1105.
