Lunchtime at 10:30. Seriously?

[Anonymous]

My kid had this in K. It wasn't actually THAT big of a deal, because she had an afternoon snack. She'd eat breakfast at 6:30am, so she was normally pretty hungry by 10:30am. Then I'd make sure to pack something big for her snack around 2pm (like 1/2 a sandwich and fruit, sort of like a mini-lunch). She had another snack (that was garbage) around 3:30pm in extended day and we'd eat dinner around 5:30 each night.

I've found it really doesn't matter what time my kids eat lunch, they are still STARVING for dinner by 5:30pm. It's weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that's been a thing for ever, right?

Yep, had this lunch time in 1994. It sucked, though. I was starving by 3pm and then I would just get powdered donuts or a chocolate bar from the vending machine before sports practice which made me feel like garbage.

I also had a 10:30 AM lunchtime 50 years ago, as a tenth grader at Wakefield High School. Juniors ate at 11:30, and seniors ate at 12:30. School began at 8:00 AM. I don't remember suffering.

[Anonymous]

It's always been this way, OP. My kids are in high school, but I remember when they had 10:30 breakfast some years in grade school. Lunch runs 10:30 to 1:30 in many schools. Some years, my kid at lunch at 1 p.m. It's different every year.

[Anonymous]

I'm a first grade teacher in another district. We eat at 10:45. The kids get used to it... I get used to it. They are 100% ready to eat at "lunch" time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's always been this way, OP. My kids are in high school, but I remember when they had 10:30 breakfast some years in grade school. Lunch runs 10:30 to 1:30 in many schools. Some years, my kid at lunch at 1 p.m. It's different every year.

With this mentality nothing changes and kids are malnourished. Just one year of a nonsense schedule can damage their health and habits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always been this way, OP. My kids are in high school, but I remember when they had 10:30 breakfast some years in grade school. Lunch runs 10:30 to 1:30 in many schools. Some years, my kid at lunch at 1 p.m. It's different every year.

With this mentality nothing changes and kids are malnourished. Just one year of a nonsense schedule can damage their health and habits.

Middle school parent back again. They are not malnourished because they eat lunch at 10:30. Calm down. That’s around the same time my son is eating for the first time in the summer so it fits just fine. He said kids are in class if they were hungry, even last year. Stuff the backpack filled with snacks if it makes you feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s next in the nonsense daily schedule?

My DD's in HS. This was the case for her in ES. So, this has been a thing for a long time. It's not ideal, but they adjust. And since they are allowed snacks in the class when needed or at designated times, they are fine later in the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always been this way, OP. My kids are in high school, but I remember when they had 10:30 breakfast some years in grade school. Lunch runs 10:30 to 1:30 in many schools. Some years, my kid at lunch at 1 p.m. It's different every year.

With this mentality nothing changes and kids are malnourished. Just one year of a nonsense schedule can damage their health and habits.

Schools are VERY liberal with allowing snacks b/c of the early or late lunches. Your kid won't be malnourished, I promise.

[Anonymous]

Lol, I had lunch at 10:53 in the early 2000s. I lived.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Ask your Principal to allow kindergartners to eat lunch in their classrooms!

This is what our Principal did after a disastrous year of Kindergartners eating lunch at 10:30 in the cafeteria because of overcrowding (5th graders ate lunch at 1:30).

Everyone was much happier with a more normal lunch time. Eating in classrooms isn't a bad thing at all.

Most schools do not have the staffing to have supervision in each classroom at lunch time.

Honestly this was a problem that we had during COVID when students were still eating in the classroom. There aren't necessarily half a dozen people around the school that have nothing to do for either that 30 minutes or longer if they're supporting multiple lunches.

Then hire more people. No child should have to eat lunch at 10:30. Only in the US where people don't understand meals and food is this a problem.

OP here and agree. Meals are supposed to be nourishing at the right time, between 11:45-1.

Sure, but you can't fit (in some cases) 900-1,000 students into an undersized cafeteria in half hour blocks between 11:45 and 1:00.

Yep!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Ask your Principal to allow kindergartners to eat lunch in their classrooms!

This is what our Principal did after a disastrous year of Kindergartners eating lunch at 10:30 in the cafeteria because of overcrowding (5th graders ate lunch at 1:30).

Everyone was much happier with a more normal lunch time. Eating in classrooms isn't a bad thing at all.

Most schools do not have the staffing to have supervision in each classroom at lunch time.

Honestly this was a problem that we had during COVID when students were still eating in the classroom. There aren't necessarily half a dozen people around the school that have nothing to do for either that 30 minutes or longer if they're supporting multiple lunches.

Then hire more people. No child should have to eat lunch at 10:30. Only in the US where people don't understand meals and food is this a problem.

OP here and agree. Meals are supposed to be nourishing at the right time, between 11:45-1.

Sure, but you can't fit (in some cases) 900-1,000 students into an undersized cafeteria in half hour blocks between 11:45 and 1:00.

The school can make it happen if there’s willingness and pressure from families.

Nope cannot happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Ask your Principal to allow kindergartners to eat lunch in their classrooms!

This is what our Principal did after a disastrous year of Kindergartners eating lunch at 10:30 in the cafeteria because of overcrowding (5th graders ate lunch at 1:30).

Everyone was much happier with a more normal lunch time. Eating in classrooms isn't a bad thing at all.

Most schools do not have the staffing to have supervision in each classroom at lunch time.

Honestly this was a problem that we had during COVID when students were still eating in the classroom. There aren't necessarily half a dozen people around the school that have nothing to do for either that 30 minutes or longer if they're supporting multiple lunches.

This should not be an issue for the next few years. Principals are being given ESSR III funds with discretion to hire hourly people.

FYI, the pay for a "cafeteria hostess" is $11.00 per hour. I overheard our office staff complaining that they'd gotten some inquiries but no one was willing to do it for that amount, especially now with the Delta variant.

The fast food places have figured it out. What do they know that FCPS can't figure out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Ask your Principal to allow kindergartners to eat lunch in their classrooms!

This is what our Principal did after a disastrous year of Kindergartners eating lunch at 10:30 in the cafeteria because of overcrowding (5th graders ate lunch at 1:30).

Everyone was much happier with a more normal lunch time. Eating in classrooms isn't a bad thing at all.

Most schools do not have the staffing to have supervision in each classroom at lunch time.

Honestly this was a problem that we had during COVID when students were still eating in the classroom. There aren't necessarily half a dozen people around the school that have nothing to do for either that 30 minutes or longer if they're supporting multiple lunches.

Then hire more people. No child should have to eat lunch at 10:30. Only in the US where people don't understand meals and food is this a problem.

OP here and agree. Meals are supposed to be nourishing at the right time, between 11:45-1.

Sure, but you can't fit (in some cases) 900-1,000 students into an undersized cafeteria in half hour blocks between 11:45 and 1:00.

The school can make it happen if there’s willingness and pressure from families.

Nope cannot happen.

Yup we the people can make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Ask your Principal to allow kindergartners to eat lunch in their classrooms!

This is what our Principal did after a disastrous year of Kindergartners eating lunch at 10:30 in the cafeteria because of overcrowding (5th graders ate lunch at 1:30).

Everyone was much happier with a more normal lunch time. Eating in classrooms isn't a bad thing at all.

Most schools do not have the staffing to have supervision in each classroom at lunch time.

Honestly this was a problem that we had during COVID when students were still eating in the classroom. There aren't necessarily half a dozen people around the school that have nothing to do for either that 30 minutes or longer if they're supporting multiple lunches.

This should not be an issue for the next few years. Principals are being given ESSR III funds with discretion to hire hourly people.

FYI, the pay for a "cafeteria hostess" is $11.00 per hour. I overheard our office staff complaining that they'd gotten some inquiries but no one was willing to do it for that amount, especially now with the Delta variant.

The fast food places have figured it out. What do they know that FCPS can't figure out?

I don’t think fast food places have “figured it out”; there’s a huge labor shortage for those jobs. They don’t pay enough for the amount of shit the employees are expected to deal with. FCPS needs to take its cues from an industry that pays a living wage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Ask your Principal to allow kindergartners to eat lunch in their classrooms!

This is what our Principal did after a disastrous year of Kindergartners eating lunch at 10:30 in the cafeteria because of overcrowding (5th graders ate lunch at 1:30).

Everyone was much happier with a more normal lunch time. Eating in classrooms isn't a bad thing at all.

Most schools do not have the staffing to have supervision in each classroom at lunch time.

Honestly this was a problem that we had during COVID when students were still eating in the classroom. There aren't necessarily half a dozen people around the school that have nothing to do for either that 30 minutes or longer if they're supporting multiple lunches.

This should not be an issue for the next few years. Principals are being given ESSR III funds with discretion to hire hourly people.

FYI, the pay for a "cafeteria hostess" is $11.00 per hour. I overheard our office staff complaining that they'd gotten some inquiries but no one was willing to do it for that amount, especially now with the Delta variant.

The fast food places have figured it out. What do they know that FCPS can't figure out?

Do they pay more than $11? Maybe it’s more hours?