Inviting Parents for Lunch Responses
Do any of the Elementary schools have an "Open Door" policy for
parents to come in and eat lunch with their students?
We do not have much cafeteria room, and have not done that.
We have a Parent Luncheon Day each spring in our gymnasium where
we serve over 700 lunches.
We are considering doing a "Lunch on the Lawn" where parents
can bring a blanket and a sack lunch and join their student on Fridays
the first and last six weeks of school.
Does anyone do anything like this? Could you please tell me any
pros or cons from your experience?
We schedule parents to come in one day per year. Like you, we are very
limited on space. The days we chose are days where other grades are on
field trips.
We invite parents, and because people choose different days it is never a space
issue. They usually come on their birthdays, so it might be a way you could
start---inviting parents to lunch with their child on their birthday.
It was a tradition when I started here, and it's been a nice one...but I didn't start
it.
Pro's - A great way to have parents involved in school and spend time
with their child in an appropriate and meaningful way
Con's - depending on how young of an elementary population you serve (I
have had a k-1 attendance center), parents may have a different idea of
what your lunch should look like that is at odds with what you need as
a school. Case in point - how much talking should be allowed in a lunch?
room and how loud should it be allowed to get?
You may want to have a practice of allowing parents in for lunches with
kids but they need to do a sign up ahead of time due to limited
cafeteria space
Hi Laura, we have a pretty involved group of parents, but even so, and
despite the fact that I have a K-2 building which is where you are likely to
see the highest percentage of parental involvement, I usually only host 1-5
parents on most days for my 240 students. I only mention that because it
might not be much of an issue, space-wise, to have an open-door policy,
although there could be high interest for a while until the newness wears
off. Not much help, I know! Good luck! Eric
We let parents eat lunch with their child in the cafeteria as long as they eat a
school lunch. If a parent brings in food for lunch and it is Subway or whatever
we let them eat in our conference room. This is so there is not a disruption.
Joshua M. Didier, Assistant Principal
Unity West Elementary School
At the last school I was at we did and end of the year picnic with the
parents, and ate on the lawn. The parents loved it. We also welcomed
parents to come and eat any time. It was great PR. There were not any cons,
we did ask parents if they brought their child lunch not to ring soda. No
real cons.
We always welcome parents, grandparents, siblings for lunch. We are crowded,
but the positive PR is worth "squeezing" them in for positive social time with the
kids. N. Cooper
We do not have an open door policy. However it was previously in place.
It caused did problems with space in the cafeteria. However, it caused
many more problems with the kids who were not able to have their parents
come whether it was due to working or any other reasons. We allow
parents to take their kids out to lunch. They must sign them out in the
office and return them prior to the end of recess before the kids are
expected to return to class. We suggest taking them to the park or some
place local. Since most of them claim it is special to eat together
they do not fight this. Hope this helps. Good luck!