Anonymous wrote:Teacher here between classes. I would be realllllly hesitant to believe outdoor lunch happens much before it’s warmer. Kids come underdressed all the time, no coat. It rains a LOT in March/April. Do not count on outdoor lunch being possible very much until probably May when coats and clothing and wetness won’t be an issue. Even then I can guarantee some parents will say their kids can’t due to seasonal allergies, we get that email from the nurse every spring when we try to do fun stuff outside. Not dissuading anyone from hybrid - just giving you reality. Plan on indoor lunch more often than not, wherever that might be.

This is similar to my prediction, although I do think that there is enormous pressure from some parents to make outdoor lunch all but mandatory.

I would imagine that there are numerous considerations that the average parent hasn’t thought of, including staffing and how much space is truly needed to keep kids spaced out 6ft+. A field would make it easy, but a courtyard or veranda? Will the kids all fit once spaced out? Is the expectation that they will sit on muddy or wet ground? Will admin decide that all lunches will be outside on any given day, or will it be class by class? How is staffing and cafeteria lunch delivery impacted if some classes are outside and some not? Everyone waits on classroom lunch delivery before they’re free to go outside?

All of these considerations and more surely vary by school.

Teacher here between classes. I would be realllllly hesitant to believe outdoor lunch happens much before it’s warmer. Kids come underdressed all the time, no coat. It rains a LOT in March/April. Do not count on outdoor lunch being possible very much until probably May when coats and clothing and wetness won’t be an issue. Even then I can guarantee some parents will say their kids can’t due to seasonal allergies, we get that email from the nurse every spring when we try to do fun stuff outside. Not dissuading anyone from hybrid - just giving you reality. Plan on indoor lunch more often than not, wherever that might be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously people, there are hundred of families in all of your schools, you will not be outing yourself if you identify which school you're talking about when you discuss your school's plans. In fact, if you don't share the school, your posts are fairly useless because no one else has a way to know if your info is credible, or based on an off-hand comment at a PTA meeting two months ago that's been changed since then.

Why does it matter?

Well for one it’s helpful for parents who aren’t as connected with their own schools. Additionally, some of these plans are still being worked out so what was reported last week may not be true this week. False information is certainly being spread.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously people, there are hundred of families in all of your schools, you will not be outing yourself if you identify which school you're talking about when you discuss your school's plans. In fact, if you don't share the school, your posts are fairly useless because no one else has a way to know if your info is credible, or based on an off-hand comment at a PTA meeting two months ago that's been changed since then.

Why does it matter?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that every school has announced their plans. At least for mine (McK) the principal said it was a work in progress and there was a new APS committee to decide what to do about lunch. The principal's note yesterday said he would provide " guidance for outdoor lunch" on Thursday.

Right now the APS policy for elementary schools is that indoor lunch will be in classrooms rather than the cafeteria or other large-group space, and that they will have outdoor lunch when feasible (with feasibility and other guidelines to be set by the working group). You may not have concrete plans (even the schools that have announced plans could end up having to change them, so those aren't set in stone either), but we all do have a general sense of what to expect.

Our ES was planning cafeteria lunch. Or at least it was last week - plans may have changed.

Which elementary school?

ASF - they shared a photo of the cafeteria setup at the PTA meeting last week.

Seriously people, there are hundred of families in all of your schools, you will not be outing yourself if you identify which school you're talking about when you discuss your school's plans. In fact, if you don't share the school, your posts are fairly useless because no one else has a way to know if your info is credible, or based on an off-hand comment at a PTA meeting two months ago that's been changed since then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that every school has announced their plans. At least for mine (McK) the principal said it was a work in progress and there was a new APS committee to decide what to do about lunch. The principal's note yesterday said he would provide " guidance for outdoor lunch" on Thursday.

Right now the APS policy for elementary schools is that indoor lunch will be in classrooms rather than the cafeteria or other large-group space, and that they will have outdoor lunch when feasible (with feasibility and other guidelines to be set by the working group). You may not have concrete plans (even the schools that have announced plans could end up having to change them, so those aren't set in stone either), but we all do have a general sense of what to expect.

Our ES was planning cafeteria lunch. Or at least it was last week - plans may have changed.

Which elementary school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that every school has announced their plans. At least for mine (McK) the principal said it was a work in progress and there was a new APS committee to decide what to do about lunch. The principal's note yesterday said he would provide " guidance for outdoor lunch" on Thursday.

Right now the APS policy for elementary schools is that indoor lunch will be in classrooms rather than the cafeteria or other large-group space, and that they will have outdoor lunch when feasible (with feasibility and other guidelines to be set by the working group). You may not have concrete plans (even the schools that have announced plans could end up having to change them, so those aren't set in stone either), but we all do have a general sense of what to expect.

Our ES was planning cafeteria lunch. Or at least it was last week - plans may have changed.

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that every school has announced their plans. At least for mine (McK) the principal said it was a work in progress and there was a new APS committee to decide what to do about lunch. The principal's note yesterday said he would provide " guidance for outdoor lunch" on Thursday.

Right now the APS policy for elementary schools is that indoor lunch will be in classrooms rather than the cafeteria or other large-group space, and that they will have outdoor lunch when feasible (with feasibility and other guidelines to be set by the working group). You may not have concrete plans (even the schools that have announced plans could end up having to change them, so those aren't set in stone either), but we all do have a general sense of what to expect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary is eating in the cafeteria

Do you mind saying which schools are eating in the cafeteria? It might help other parents. It should not be a secret. Discovery elementary is eating outdoors and as a backup the classroom. There will be no snack breaks, but there will be breakfast eaten in the classroom for those who need to.

Discovery default is classroom, not outdoors.

I am not trying to argue, but that is not what I heard last night at the town hall. Specifically it was said that there would be every effort to have lunch outdoors unless it was too cold or too windy.

I have no interest in arguing either. At the school wide town hall last week, the answer to “where will lunch be” was that the classrooms would be the default, aside from one class that will eat in the cafeteria due to classroom carpet concerns. There was acknowledgment that there is great outdoor space available, and that they will try to make use of it, but it won’t be the default.

Yes agree that is what was said last week. I encourage you to watch the Townhall from last night where there was certainly a different tune about outdoor lunch. The administration was very forthcoming about many details of the school day which was very much appreciated.

DP. I have no doubt that the Discovery administration is sincere in their intention of having outdoor lunch as much as possible. But the reality is that classrooms will be the default, and outdoor lunch will happen only when feasible. It may be feasible more days than not (especially as the weather improves), but if anything interferes like hiccups in the routine the first few weeks, lunch will be indoors in the classrooms. Hopefully that will be a rare event, but I think its important that we all have reasonable expectations going into this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary is eating in the cafeteria

Do you mind saying which schools are eating in the cafeteria? It might help other parents. It should not be a secret. Discovery elementary is eating outdoors and as a backup the classroom. There will be no snack breaks, but there will be breakfast eaten in the classroom for those who need to.

Discovery default is classroom, not outdoors.

I am not trying to argue, but that is not what I heard last night at the town hall. Specifically it was said that there would be every effort to have lunch outdoors unless it was too cold or too windy.

I have no interest in arguing either. At the school wide town hall last week, the answer to “where will lunch be” was that the classrooms would be the default, aside from one class that will eat in the cafeteria due to classroom carpet concerns. There was acknowledgment that there is great outdoor space available, and that they will try to make use of it, but it won’t be the default.

Yes agree that is what was said last week. I encourage you to watch the Townhall from last night where there was certainly a different tune about outdoor lunch. The administration was very forthcoming about many details of the school day which was very much appreciated.

It's not true that every school has announced their plans. At least for mine (McK) the principal said it was a work in progress and there was a new APS committee to decide what to do about lunch. The principal's note yesterday said he would provide " guidance for outdoor lunch" on Thursday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary is eating in the cafeteria

Do you mind saying which schools are eating in the cafeteria? It might help other parents. It should not be a secret. Discovery elementary is eating outdoors and as a backup the classroom. There will be no snack breaks, but there will be breakfast eaten in the classroom for those who need to.

Discovery default is classroom, not outdoors.

I am not trying to argue, but that is not what I heard last night at the town hall. Specifically it was said that there would be every effort to have lunch outdoors unless it was too cold or too windy.

I have no interest in arguing either. At the school wide town hall last week, the answer to “where will lunch be” was that the classrooms would be the default, aside from one class that will eat in the cafeteria due to classroom carpet concerns. There was acknowledgment that there is great outdoor space available, and that they will try to make use of it, but it won’t be the default.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary is eating in the cafeteria

Do you mind saying which schools are eating in the cafeteria? It might help other parents. It should not be a secret. Discovery elementary is eating outdoors and as a backup the classroom. There will be no snack breaks, but there will be breakfast eaten in the classroom for those who need to.

Discovery default is classroom, not outdoors.

I am not trying to argue, but that is not what I heard last night at the town hall. Specifically it was said that there would be every effort to have lunch outdoors unless it was too cold or too windy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary is eating in the cafeteria

Do you mind saying which schools are eating in the cafeteria? It might help other parents. It should not be a secret. Discovery elementary is eating outdoors and as a backup the classroom. There will be no snack breaks, but there will be breakfast eaten in the classroom for those who need to.

Discovery default is classroom, not outdoors.