Media coverage about lunchroom conditions in recent weeks continues to generate discussion – and some ideas for solutions!
Fix Our Schools was thrilled to hear from Kensington Community School, a TDSB elementary school in downtown Toronto, about their “locally grown” solution to lunchroom conditions that used to include stress, chaos and a lot of noise. Suggested by a teacher, school administration took a bit of a risk and agreed to try the proposed solution, which costs virtually nothing – in good weather, let the children eat outside! At Kensington school, children eat outside if it is above zero and good conditions. What was the result?
Many positive benefits for students:
- They are more relaxed.
- They are allowed to eat with friends from other classes or their siblings
- They feel a greater sense of independence
- They no longer waste their outdoor time waiting in a line for everyone to be quiet in order to go outside.
- Students who need a longer time to eat are neither rushed nor feel left out as they don’t remain behind in the “lunch room”
- Students who eat quickly are no longer misbehaving in their boredom from waiting to go outside.
- Students aren’t squished eating elbow to elbow on a bench seat.
- Student outdoor time is increased for all
When Kensington Community School contacted us, they acknowledged that “every playground differs and may not have steps, benches, or large rocks to sit on, so each school may need some minor investment to help create picnic spaces or add tables where kids can enjoy their lunches in an appropriate fashion, but it is a small investment compared to most other possibilities. If it’s nice, staff may want to eat outside as well, adding adults on the playground without being “on duty.”
They also recognized that “this is not a total solution to the problem of overcrowded or chaotic lunchrooms but it is a piece of the puzzle which could easily be moved forward on and put into place this spring in most of our schools instantly with virtually no cost. Some obstacles may be serving hot lunches, or overlapping lunch shifts but thoughtful staff members can certainly work together to overcome why, “We can’t do that.”
Fix Our Schools loved hearing this local solution to improve lunchroom conditions for Ontario’s students almost immediately. However, we believe that we also need to look at longer-term, more systemic solutions so that this issue doesn’t get resolved at some schools and not others. All Ontario children deserve positive lunchtime conditions!
So, with this in mind, we’d suggest not only looking at local, short-term solutions to improve lunchtime for your children but also looking at engaging with the Fix Our Schools Pledge Initiative. This initiative is a great way to obtain the standards we need in schools – for both lunchroom conditions and for school conditions, in general. Our goal is to have all MPP candidates pledge their commitment to a standard for schools and to funding those standards. To participate and find out how to get your local MPP candidates to sign the Pledge, click here.