For ES I can see how schools would have everyone doing the same thing -- either indoor or outdoor. There's not enough staff to manage kids at different locations from the same classroom. I'm not worried about my kids getting covid if eating indoors, so wouldn't be upset if the schools moved lunch back inside. However, I actually do like the kids eating lunch outdoors. Maybe a certain temperature threshold needs to be set, no precipitation, no wind over X miles per hour, etc. I'm all for my kids getting more sunshine and fresh air during the day, not concerning covid at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids enjoy eating outside (from what I gather). They get more recess..my kids now rat in 5 mins and get nearly an hour of recess. It is much improved IMO.

Meant to say they eat in about 5 mins.

Yes, I think this is a great change that I hope stays around long after covid concerns are gone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP is over the top, but I agree outdoor lunch should be optional. And I mean truly optional, no recommendation or guilting to eat outside. My kids are vaccinated and very low risk. Kids that have family members they are concerned about can continue to eat outdoors. Indoor lunch should absolutely be allowed at this point.

Optional inside/outside really doesn't work for the younger kids in elementary who have more people monitoring them and in general are just more tightly controlled as to where they can even sit during lunch.

Then it should be default indoor lunch. If outdoor lunch is that important they can figure out logistics. But outdoors should not be default in winter. The examples of kids in Canada always having outdoor recess is dumb. Those kids have better clothes and are running around during recess, not resting trying to eat lunch. I hate the cold and so do my kids, so i hear complaints. I've been biting my lip until vaccination but now it's all ridiculous. If Omicron is as transmissible as we think, those cloth masks aren't doing jack for them anyway. We're all going to get it.

Anonymous wrote:Settle down! Elementary kids are just now getting 2nd shots. We just had a holiday when lots of people gather and travel. Can we just get 3-4 weeks past New Years or better yet, 2 weeks past Spring Break and then be done with outdoor lunch and masks?

I want to be back to normal, but my 2nd grade kid seems to not care. I’d rather not rush it than have to backtrack if there is an outbreak.

I am friends with teachers in mask optional places and their schools have had outbreaks - spread among students within a classroom. As far as I know, APS has onsie - twosie cases and spread to larger groups has been due to extracurriculars.

Any evidence that it was caused by the lack of masks? No.

There are plenty of outbreaks at mask mandatory places too. I caught COVID while wearing a mask (I did not do a post on Facebook though about how I'd done everything right). It is a highly transmissible respiratory virus. If you're worried about COVID and kids (the risks are already lower for kids than the flu), then there are vaccines available.

Have you seen the results of the Bangladesh RCT on masks? Cloth masks did not work when they actually had a control group and looked at how they worked in real world setting with real people. Masks do work when perfectly fitted on mannequins, but have you ever seen kids wear them? Or adults for that sake?

Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID for the rest of their lives. Everyone. Trying to pretend otherwise is really a fantasy. Considering how well vaccines work and the fact COVID will be here the rest of our lives, asking for mitigation to continue is logically the same as (a) asking mitigation to continue forever (but only for kids - adults aren't subject to any) and (b) wanting a standard that no one ever gets a cold again.

Email your principal? We got an email a couple of weeks ago asking for input on continuing outdoor lunch, and the overwhelming majority of parents wanted to keep lunch outside. My kids like it - they can pick who to sit next to and walk around talking to other kids. No complaints about sitting on the cold ground or anything. We have another week to go until my kids are fully vaccinated, and after that I would be fine with moving lunch inside, but I don’t plan to make a big fuss about it either way.

Anonymous wrote:Settle down! Elementary kids are just now getting 2nd shots. We just had a holiday when lots of people gather and travel. Can we just get 3-4 weeks past New Years or better yet, 2 weeks past Spring Break and then be done with outdoor lunch and masks?

I want to be back to normal, but my 2nd grade kid seems to not care. I’d rather not rush it than have to backtrack if there is an outbreak.

I am friends with teachers in mask optional places and their schools have had outbreaks - spread among students within a classroom. As far as I know, APS has onsie - twosie cases and spread to larger groups has been due to extracurriculars.

No. 2 weeks after spring break means an entire winter of unnecessary cold lunches. Let the kids who want to eat inside do so now.

Anonymous wrote:Most kids enjoy eating outside (from what I gather). They get more recess..my kids now rat in 5 mins and get nearly an hour of recess. It is much improved IMO.

Meant to say they eat in about 5 mins.

Settle down! Elementary kids are just now getting 2nd shots. We just had a holiday when lots of people gather and travel. Can we just get 3-4 weeks past New Years or better yet, 2 weeks past Spring Break and then be done with outdoor lunch and masks?

I want to be back to normal, but my 2nd grade kid seems to not care. I’d rather not rush it than have to backtrack if there is an outbreak.

I am friends with teachers in mask optional places and their schools have had outbreaks - spread among students within a classroom. As far as I know, APS has onsie - twosie cases and spread to larger groups has been due to extracurriculars.

Most kids enjoy eating outside (from what I gather). They get more recess..my kids now rat in 5 mins and get nearly an hour of recess. It is much improved IMO.

Our APS elementary has it optional every day unless it's raining or super windy. Not sure yet if there is a cut off temperature that would send everyone indoors but in VA it rarely gets that cold anyway. Probably a a handful of days in January and February. My kid loves it so I hope they keep the option there long term. The school has plenty picnic tables and benches so anyone sitting on the floor is doing it by choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP is over the top, but I agree outdoor lunch should be optional. And I mean truly optional, no recommendation or guilting to eat outside. My kids are vaccinated and very low risk. Kids that have family members they are concerned about can continue to eat outdoors. Indoor lunch should absolutely be allowed at this point.

Optional inside/outside really doesn't work for the younger kids in elementary who have more people monitoring them and in general are just more tightly controlled as to where they can even sit during lunch.

Presumably there's a ratio adults to children. This is an easily solvable math issue.

I do agree with outdoor lunch for all when it's nice outside (even if there was no COVID).

All the logistical management of elementary kids involves the classes staying together. You can't rely on probably K-3 kids to know...oh when the bell rings or at 12:30, its time to get up and go back to my classroom.

It would be a logistical nightmare for them to offer optional outdoor lunch to this age group.

My kid would be much happier eating outdoors at a picnic table (or similar) rather than just sitting on the blacktop.

Our school has said that every kid is outside or every kid is inside and there will be no combo seating. I get it – the school shouldn't have to police this stuff. APS elementary parents would flip their sh!t if there was a choice and their kid was allowed to make a choice different than the parental preference and schools really don't need one more thing to track.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP is over the top, but I agree outdoor lunch should be optional. And I mean truly optional, no recommendation or guilting to eat outside. My kids are vaccinated and very low risk. Kids that have family members they are concerned about can continue to eat outdoors. Indoor lunch should absolutely be allowed at this point.

Optional inside/outside really doesn't work for the younger kids in elementary who have more people monitoring them and in general are just more tightly controlled as to where they can even sit during lunch.

Presumably there's a ratio adults to children. This is an easily solvable math issue.

I do agree with outdoor lunch for all when it's nice outside (even if there was no COVID).

Some of you need to make friends that live elsewhere and ask them how it's going for their kids. Most of the planet has been eating indoors and it's been fine. Also, did I miss some big contract tracing that showed restaurants in arlington have been the source of all spread? I ate indoors since they reopened and have yet to get covid. If eating indoors was some super spreader event why did we not see rates correlate with that when they reopened indoors? There isn't a correlation. PS I have also worked out indoors since they reopened without a mask and never got covid. Funny how we aren't all walking around in active covid wards at all times.

Anonymous wrote:The OP is over the top, but I agree outdoor lunch should be optional. And I mean truly optional, no recommendation or guilting to eat outside. My kids are vaccinated and very low risk. Kids that have family members they are concerned about can continue to eat outdoors. Indoor lunch should absolutely be allowed at this point.

Optional inside/outside really doesn't work for the younger kids in elementary who have more people monitoring them and in general are just more tightly controlled as to where they can even sit during lunch.