Some schools are educating students remotely. Others have adopted a hybrid model. Still others are fully face to face — until they’re not, because of a COVID-19 case popping up in a classroom or on a school bus.

The particulars of teaching in America today are varying from place to place and from day to day.

One constant, though, is the need to fill the belly if there’s to be any hope of filling the mind.

That’s why it was a wise move by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to again extend by six months looser guidelines for the federally funded free-meal program for kids. The first extension came in the spring when school was canceled during the pandemic and the adjustments in the program flowed into the annual Summer Meal Program. Then, that extension was extended until year’s end. Now, it’s been extended through June 30, 2021.

The program isn’t just about making sure that every child enrolled in school, regardless of age, is entitled to a free lunch (and breakfast, too), regardless of income. It’s about allowing for unconventional means of obtaining the meals. Parents and guardians can retrieve the food if kids aren’t able. Students can get a meal at a school building where they don’t attend if getting to that building is easier. In some places, meals are being boxed in quantities for those undergoing distance learning.

There had been some doubt as to whether funding would be found for this essential program. Those fears have been allayed.

Now, the focus must be turned by local districts to access issues.

Meals must reach their destinations — hungry children.

School boards, PTAs, teachers unions must come together to ensure that a system is in place, whether learning is expected to be remote or face to face. Even in schools where on-site teaching is planned, the incidence rate of unexpected shutdown is certain to increase as COVID-19 continues to bedevil our communities. That’s why a plan to connect off-site students with food shouldn’t be on the fly.

Evening meal pickup should be considered. School buses-turned-food-trucks could be deployed through neighborhoods, especially in districts that span a nonwalkable geographic area. Fortifying with extra meals a district’s primary schools, which tend to be more neighborhood-centric, should be on the agenda.

Now that the food is free and availability is guaranteed, the emphasis must be on making pickup possible and, preferably, convenient.

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)