Open Lunch

[Anonymous]

The school is overcrowded. Where should they go for lunch if not to the places around here? They also make up pretty much all the riders of the metro bus running through this part of town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school is overcrowded. Where should they go for lunch if not to the places around here? They also make up pretty much all the riders of the metro bus running through this part of town.

Other schools make it work. They just find spots around the school to eat or don't eat.

[Anonymous]

Wheaton doesn’t have open lunch. Everyone has the same lunch period, they get an hour and can go anywhere on the (large) campus. Seems to work out fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to do what most other states do: 30min lunches in shifts.

And don’t come back with “all students need the same lunch for clubs.” BS. Clubs can meet after school. I’m a teacher who runs multiple clubs and after-school clubs works. If kids don’t want to stay after school, they don’t have to participate.

Expecting 2500-3000 kids to have the same lunch is madness and is not efficient for all students to be able to eat lunch on campus

APS (Arlington) has 30 min lunches in shifts and open lunch for upperclassmen. Students either drive or walk to cafes near the high school campuses. So, yes. open campus can still work at lunch with 30 minute periods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has any school done away with open lunch?

Paint Branch is in the process. Only juniors and seniors have open lunch, next year, only seniors. The following year, open lunch will be done with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WJ does, they overrun Wildwood shopping center until 12. They are allowed to get food and supposed to take it back to the cafeteria, which they do at Chipotle, Flippin side of OGR because there's a security officer there, but at Wildwood Balduccis side, they get use Flower Child and Piccolo as a cafeteria. It's REALLY annoying and I wish the restaurants would complain.

Womp Womp OP. Why don't you try to eat at an incredibly overcrowded school with 3,000 kids.They are only there from 11-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how staggered lunches would work. My sophomore has classes with kids from 9th to 12th grade. It seems like a scheduling nightmare. Maybe if there were two periods, 11-12 and 12-1 or something it could work but it seems very challenging.

They have 2-3 lunch periods and kids get assigned depending on their schedule.

Students benefit more from being able to see any friend they want to at lunch, having the opportunity to make up tests they missed, get extra help from the teachers, and attend club meetings. The administrators get the headache of dealing with complaints about student behavior off campus during lunch, but avoid the headache of much more complicated scheduling. The teachers can offer help to students at lunch instead of having to stay late to help kids after school.

None of these benefits are objectively measured or consistent.

The other downsides to the current model means teachers don't actually get a break to have lunch, since they have to use the lunch period to host clubs, give kids a space to hang out, or do make up work. This contributes to the significant teacher burnout we're seeing in MCPS.

Teachers don't have clubs and support meetings all lunch every day. They get at least half of the 1hr lunch to themselves.

A lot of clubs are student run so the teacher is present but not actively leading club.

My kid does a ton of teacher meetings and make-ups at lunch.

It depends on the teacher. Some have support available at lunch and clubs, others don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wheaton doesn’t have open lunch. Everyone has the same lunch period, they get an hour and can go anywhere on the (large) campus. Seems to work out fine.

Blair, the biggest HS in the state, doesn’t have open lunch and it works out fine.

[Anonymous]

We have to stop using lunch to cram in extracurriculars. Extracurriculars are meant to happen outside of the normal school day. Acting like they can be crammed in along with everything else is a mistake.

Also, part of what makes extracurriculars valuable is that the student is willing to give up their free time to do it. If students don't want to, then it's probably not that important to them. And that's ok.

And don't come with the "students have to work jobs to pay the bills" or "have to watch younger siblings" thing. That is true for some students, but definitely not all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wheaton doesn’t have open lunch. Everyone has the same lunch period, they get an hour and can go anywhere on the (large) campus. Seems to work out fine.

Blair, the biggest HS in the state, doesn’t have open lunch and it works out fine.

Blair did have open lunch at the original Wayne Ave location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wheaton doesn’t have open lunch. Everyone has the same lunch period, they get an hour and can go anywhere on the (large) campus. Seems to work out fine.

Blair, the biggest HS in the state, doesn’t have open lunch and it works out fine.

Blair did have open lunch at the original Wayne Ave location.

I don’t see how that is relevant to this conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wheaton doesn’t have open lunch. Everyone has the same lunch period, they get an hour and can go anywhere on the (large) campus. Seems to work out fine.

Blair, the biggest HS in the state, doesn’t have open lunch and it works out fine.

Blair did have open lunch at the original Wayne Ave location.

I don’t see how that is relevant to this conversation.

They built large enough facilities at the new Blair. The old Blair could not accommodate lunches.