To lunch, or not to lunch

On a peaceful July afternoon, my 9year-old brother licked his palm, yelled “corona!” and sprinted after me. In the context of our backyard, his prank was disturbing, but relatively harmless. Should schools reopen in the fall?

Citing the need for more time “to work through and implement key elements of the reopening plan,” on Aug. 11, the Hamden Board of Education pushed back the start of school from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8.

The Hamden Public Schools Transitional Reopening Plan strikes a balance between in-school and at-home classes, and allows parents to opt into a full program of distance learning for their children.

Only about 39 percent of parents consider it safe to send their children to school, according to a CNBC/Change Research poll. But most parents want schools to reopen. Connecticut district surveys conducted in July show that a majority of Connecticut parents and guardians wanted their children in school this fall.

New cases are declining in

Connecticut, and New Haven County seems to be recovering from peaks in positive cases in April and May. As Gov. Ned Lamont said on Aug. 9 on CBS’s Face the Nation: “If Connecticut can’t get reopened, I don’t know who can around the country.”

Nonetheless, it is worth asking whether Hamden is making the right choice — especially in regards to its lunch policy.

Students at Hamden public schools “will go to the cafeteria in small groups to pick up their meals, then eat in classrooms or other areas where they can be distanced from others,” according to the Hamden Public Schools website.

To put it bluntly, lunchtime may waste students and teachers’ efforts to keep masks on throughout the day.

To be sure, providing meals to students with food insecurity is an important function of schools. Schools have an ethical imperative to continue this role, even in the age of coronavirus.

The social components of lunch are also important to student mental health and development.

“Lunch is a social time for students, a time to catch up with your friends. And, in this school year, a time to take a break from wearing a mask,” said Jeff Hill, superintendent of Morton Public Schools in Illinois.

As much as I miss eating lunch with friends, my much-needed social gratification does not measure up to the potential cost in human lives.

Having spent the past seven years in the Hamden public school system, I can attest that most of the classrooms at Hamden Middle and Hamden High are not spacious enough for students to sit 6 feet apart and safely take off our masks, even at half capacity.

Further, it would be hubristic to assume that upgraded HVAC systems, while commendable, will sufficiently lessen the risk.

The Hamden Board of Education should keep in mind that even the careful plans and expansive resources of UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Notre Dame were not enough to counter the coronavirus.

Hamden schools should send students home at noon with packed lunches. Other districts would be wise to follow suit.