NORTH CANTON, Ohio (WJW) — North Canton City School District is putting its own resources to good use to help protect employees while they distribute as many as 1,200 meals to district families daily.
North Canton students are learning from home, due to the Governor’s school closures order, but the district is distributing bagged breakfast and lunch to families from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. each weekday.
“They have hand protection and they keep as far away as they can. I feel like they are in fresh air and it’s not like they are cooped up in a room. They do try to keep their distance, but we were concerned and we do want them to have some extra protection for the safety of the kids too because one of us could be a carrier and not even know it,” said Food Service Director Jill Lauter.
This prompted the district’s superintendent to turn to engineering teachers at Hoover High School for help.
The district’s pre-engineering program typically makes use of a 3D printer at its ‘Fab Lab’ at the school, where Todd Alkire continues to conduct classes remotely for students who are at their homes.
Alkire says he utilized a global resource of designs on the internet to try and create a face shield that could help create an additional barrier between teachers and families during the meal distribution.
“We found three or four that we like, that we thought we could manufacture here. We came up with one that seems to take the quickest amount of time and is the easiest to put together, gave it a few tries and we are trying them out today for the first time. And, if there are any changes then we can go back and fix those,” Alkire told Fox 8 News on Wednesday.
The shields are welcomed by both the employees working on the distribution and by local families.
“I know my girls were concerned about scaring the children. When you walk up to a car and you have a facemask on, the kids would be a little concerned about that. And so these masks are clear. They can clearly see that these are their lunch ladies serving their lunches,” said Lauter.
The district says the project can also be used as a lesson for students who are learning from their homes.
“We will start showing them what we are doing and actually we are thinking about throwing out the design to them to see if they can come up with some better ideas, seeing if they can come up with changes or improvements. So actually, after this, I will go back and hook up with the kids online and see what we can come up with,” said Alkire.
