Is any ES offering or planning to offer any form of outdoor lunch this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can’t keep the teachers they have and you want them to add more teachers to lunch duty so your kid can eat outside? Go sign your kids out for lunch if you’re scared of the cafeteria.

That's...not how it works. Teachers don't do lunch duty. Paras and lunch monitors do it, whether it's inside or outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are not even distancing anymore at our elementary school. DS said that they're back to being scrunched in - 2 tables per class.

If you look at the pictures posted by MCPS and the schools there is zero distancing.

I mean, the CDC no longer recommends distancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are not even distancing anymore at our elementary school. DS said that they're back to being scrunched in - 2 tables per class.

If you look at the pictures posted by MCPS and the schools there is zero distancing.

Following CDC guidelines. Nobody is distancing anywhere anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The county no longer pays for monitors and we don’t have enough staff to cover outdoor lunch. It’s a logistical nightmare to shift gears when the weather doesn’t permit outdoor lunch; unless parents actually want to volunteer (and they don’t). So go ahead and waste your principals time complaining about something they have obviously considered and dealt with for the past two years.

This. The principals are dealing with enough right now. Making an unreasonable request for outdoor lunch is a waste of their time.

OP, you have choices. If you choose to keep your kid in an MCPS elementary, expect that they will be eating lunch indoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Every time a post is made on DCUM that even remotely hints at Covid precautions, it attracts hateful people who reflexively attack the OP.

If this had nothing to do with Covid, people would find alfresco lunch wonderful! Like 19:37 does, actually.

So keep pushing for outdoor lunch, but sell it as a mental health measure - lots of sheeple falling for the mental health angle, these days. Point to studies proving that kids benefit mentally and physically from spending more time outdoors. Tout the physical benefits to luring kids with playground equipment and getting them to exercise and breathe fresh air.

And keep mum on the Covid front. All the cautious people will be on your side, and all the outdoor-loving people will be on your side. And you'll avoid the weirdos who think that worrying about Covid is a crime.

When there's a will, funds will be found...

Good luck finding the staff. Do you have any idea what staffing is like? Not just in schools, but everywhere - there are staffing shortages. Public AND private sector.

Even if you have the ‘funds’, there are simply not enough paras and aides to support outdoor lunch for every elementary school kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county no longer pays for monitors and we don’t have enough staff to cover outdoor lunch. It’s a logistical nightmare to shift gears when the weather doesn’t permit outdoor lunch; unless parents actually want to volunteer (and they don’t). So go ahead and waste your principals time complaining about something they have obviously considered and dealt with for the past two years.

MCPS still has federal covid money that is unspent. It was literally designed to support initiatives such as this. I get that it’s hard to hire people (everywhere), but just because some people are over covid does not mean these funds should not be allocated to support the one part of the day that is highest risk to students who are otherwise masking.

MCPs has spent that Covid money on other things (like bocce).

[Anonymous]

Our school is doing outside lunch. Principals are making the decision.

[Anonymous]

There is no way to distance and have all kids at school at the same time - when we had 6 feet distancing, only half of the kids came to school at a time.

There is also not staffing for outdoor lunch - no one is trying to deny kids time outside, but as several PPs have pointed out no school has enough staff to run indoor and outdoor lunches now. If you are thinking teachers can just help out, know that lunch is duty-free time for your child’s teacher to eat their own lunch/grade/attend meetings/make copies/a lot of other things.

[Anonymous]

To answer your question though, at our ES my kid is having lunch outside. I don't know all of the logistics, but I dont think he has a choice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county no longer pays for monitors and we don’t have enough staff to cover outdoor lunch. It’s a logistical nightmare to shift gears when the weather doesn’t permit outdoor lunch; unless parents actually want to volunteer (and they don’t). So go ahead and waste your principals time complaining about something they have obviously considered and dealt with for the past two years.

MCPS still has federal covid money that is unspent. It was literally designed to support initiatives such as this. I get that it’s hard to hire people (everywhere), but just because some people are over covid does not mean these funds should not be allocated to support the one part of the day that is highest risk to students who are otherwise masking.

How much money and how much could these monitors be paid?

[Anonymous]

What school OP? That sounds like exactly what our principal would say (really about any parent request).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Every time a post is made on DCUM that even remotely hints at Covid precautions, it attracts hateful people who reflexively attack the OP.

If this had nothing to do with Covid, people would find alfresco lunch wonderful! Like 19:37 does, actually.

So keep pushing for outdoor lunch, but sell it as a mental health measure - lots of sheeple falling for the mental health angle, these days. Point to studies proving that kids benefit mentally and physically from spending more time outdoors. Tout the physical benefits to luring kids with playground equipment and getting them to exercise and breathe fresh air.

And keep mum on the Covid front. All the cautious people will be on your side, and all the outdoor-loving people will be on your side. And you'll avoid the weirdos who think that worrying about Covid is a crime.

When there's a will, funds will be found...

Good luck finding the staff. Do you have any idea what staffing is like? Not just in schools, but everywhere - there are staffing shortages. Public AND private sector.

Even if you have the ‘funds’, there are simply not enough paras and aides to support outdoor lunch for every elementary school kid.

It's exactly the same number running the show outdoors or indoors. Also LOL to those who claim it's more work to "set up and take down" outdoor lunch. There is no setting up or taking down anything outside. But they do put up and take down the tables inside. So if you're trying to skip some steps, eating outside is easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are not even distancing anymore at our elementary school. DS said that they're back to being scrunched in - 2 tables per class.

If you look at the pictures posted by MCPS and the schools there is zero distancing.

I mean, the CDC no longer recommends distancing.

The cdc failed us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county no longer pays for monitors and we don’t have enough staff to cover outdoor lunch. It’s a logistical nightmare to shift gears when the weather doesn’t permit outdoor lunch; unless parents actually want to volunteer (and they don’t). So go ahead and waste your principals time complaining about something they have obviously considered and dealt with for the past two years.

MCPS still has federal covid money that is unspent. It was literally designed to support initiatives such as this. I get that it’s hard to hire people (everywhere), but just because some people are over covid does not mean these funds should not be allocated to support the one part of the day that is highest risk to students who are otherwise masking.

There are so many hundreds paraeducator jobs in the county. It's not like mcps isn't trying to fill these jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county no longer pays for monitors and we don’t have enough staff to cover outdoor lunch. It’s a logistical nightmare to shift gears when the weather doesn’t permit outdoor lunch; unless parents actually want to volunteer (and they don’t). So go ahead and waste your principals time complaining about something they have obviously considered and dealt with for the past two years.

MCPS still has federal covid money that is unspent. It was literally designed to support initiatives such as this. I get that it’s hard to hire people (everywhere), but just because some people are over covid does not mean these funds should not be allocated to support the one part of the day that is highest risk to students who are otherwise masking.

There are so many hundreds paraeducator jobs in the county. It's not like mcps isn't trying to fill these jobs.

I don’t think a lunch monitor position has the same hours or qualification requirements as a paraeducator. I also agree with the poster upthread that you don’t need double the number of staff to supervise outdoor lunch. There’s a ratio they need to meet, whether they are inside or outside.