Durham School Services Receives Recognition of Achievement Award from Harvard Community School District 50

Anna Lam | 29 October, 2020 | Next

Harvard, IL – Recently, the Harvard Community School District (CUSD) 50 Board of Education recognized Christina Briggs, General Manager for Durham School Services, for her incredible contribution to the District throughout the pandemic. In a joint effort with Harvard CUSD 50, Durham School Services proudly provided food to students every school day since the beginning of the pandemic, totaling more than 230,000 meals.

“Largely due to Christina’s infectious attitude, we have been able to provide food to our students every school day during the pandemic delivering over 230,000 meals and counting”, said Dr. Corey Tafoya, Superintendent of Harvard Community Unit School District 50. “Christina found solutions for every question and did it all with such a sense of gratitude and cheerfulness that it made everyone around her join the cause.  I can’t thank her enough for her dedication to our kids and making Harvard a great school district.

During the school year, some students rely on the free meals provided at school as one of their main sources of nourishment, but due to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home orders employed to help maintain everyone’s safety, these students risked losing this essential resource. Therefore, Durham School Services has been committed to transporting and providing daily “grab and go” essential food services to the students of Harvard CUSD 50 since March 2020.

“Christina and her team have been steadfast in delivering essential food to our Harvard CUSD 50 students since the pandemic began, and she and her team’s efforts are still ongoing.  Delivering over 230,000 meals to students in this time of great uncertainty and food insecurity displays our unwavering commitment to helping our partners and their communities”, said Lucy Kalkman, SVP and COO, Central Region for Durham School Services.

The safety of Durham’s employees and passengers is the Company’s number one priority. In addition to hiring qualified drivers and staff, conducting extensive safety training, and creating efficient routing plans, Durham has prioritized having in place COVID-19 prevention measures by employing additional safety protocols. These safety protocols have been integrated into their daily operations to meet and exceed the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations.

These protocols consist of screening all team members for COVID-19 related symptoms, including temperature checks, prior to the start of their first shift. Additionally, team members are required to wear a face mask unless it causes a safety concern while driving, and buses are cleaned and sanitized twice a day, once before the morning route and again after the afternoon route, with an EPA-approved disinfectant, as well as spot-cleaned throughout the day.

For more information regarding Durham’s safety protocols and COVID-19 prevention measures, please visit www.nellc.com/schoolsafety.