Arlington Public Schools

Arlington, Virginia

Arlington, Virginia is a suburb of Washington, DC, located just across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital. At only 26 square miles, Arlington is the smallest county in the United States and is one of the most diverse. Arlington Public Schools includes 34 schools that educate a diverse student body of nearly 30,000 PK-12 students—including students who speak 114 different native languages and hail from more than 150 countries.

Taking meals outdoors
in response to the pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to closed suddenly on March 16, 2020, Arlington Public Schools knew what this meant for their students. The Food and Nutrition Services department had a deep understanding of the importance of school nutrition to many of their students, and they were ready to support them. They turned on a dime and began serving “to-go” meals for families to pick up the very day that schools closed.

At first there were just two locations for meal distribution, staffed only by a small team of food service supervisors. Gradually more staff was able to return in-person, more meal distribution sites were added, and the department quickly developed expertise in packaging meals to go. By the summer of 2020—and continuing to the present (May 2021)—approximately 5,000-6,000 meals are distributed daily at nine “Grab and Go” sites run by the school district.

During the time when school was still conducted remotely for all students, families could come to a food distribution site three days a week and pick up a parcel with a hot lunch for that day, a lunch to heat up for the next day, and two breakfasts. According to Amy Maclosky, Food and Nutrition Services Director for Arlington Public Schools, as of April 2021, the district had served two million meals, and all of them were provided for free to families.

When in-person school resumed for some students in March 2021, knowing that there was not a one-size-fits-all answer, the district opted to give each school the opportunity to plan their own mealtime systems for serving, eating, and cleaning up. Since eating meals requires students to remove their masks, increasing the risk of virus transmission, the superintendent strongly encouraged all schools to provide outdoor eating options whenever possible.

As a result, most of the schools in the district changed their practices to bring their school meals outdoors, using a variety of strategies and practices. In the case studies below we visit three elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school to share the ways they used outdoor spaces at mealtimes.

School District Information

• 34 schools

• 29,142 PK-12 students (Pre-COVID)

• Students speak 114 languages and hail from 150 countries (APS)

• 29.1% qualify for free/reduced lunch (2019-20)

• District website

Districtwide Food Service in 2020-21

• 5,000-6,000 meals distributed via “Grab and Go” sites each day, from Summer 2020 - May 2021

• 2,000,000 meals served for free to families, during the pandemic!

• When they reopened for in-person instruction, most of the 34 schools used outdoor spaces in the 2020-21 school year at mealtimes.

Location

• Mid-Atlantic region of the United States

• Arlington, Virginia is a suburb of Washington, DC, located just across the Potomac River from the capital

• Arlington County: 228,400 residents

Climate

• Region with four distinct seasons, including mild spring and fall temperatures

• Hot, humid summers: Average daytime temperatures above 78°F from beginning of June until mid-September

• Mild, chilly winters with some snow: Average daytime temperatures below 51°F for 3 months

• Precipitation: Average of 117 days per year, in all seasons

• Rainfall: Average of 43” per year

• Snowfall: Average of 15” per year

Campbell Elementary

Campbell Elementary School has a robust outdoor learning program already in place, so teachers and staff have previous experience using outdoor areas onsite. Lunch at Campbell takes place one grade at a time in 20 to 25 minute time slots. Students pick up their lunch in the cafeteria and follow a one-way path to the seating areas of their choice, either inside or outside. After they eat, masks come back on, and the one-way path continues to the trash and hand sanitizer, and then on to the playground for recess.

Students have the choice of eating in the cafeteria at single person tables, or they can choose to eat outside on nice days in an area where existing picnic tables were supplemented with tree stumps that provide additional seating. Kids can also choose to sit on a square defined by existing seam lines in the concrete sidewalk. The principal’s goal was to keep mealtime as simple as possible, so this system does not require any transporting, rearranging, or sanitizing outdoor spaces.

Campbell Elementary is a Title 1 school.

Existing score lines that divide the sidewalk into squares are used to define physically distanced “sit spots” for some of the children.

Identical blue yoga mats define spaces in the shade on the front lawn of the school.

Barcroft Elementary

Barcroft Elementary School is a Title 1 school whose outdoor learning and lunch programs are new. This year, the school partnered with the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative’s Emergency Schoolyard Design Volunteer program to help them assess their school ground’s potential for using outdoor spaces for learning and meals during the pandemic. The resulting school ground concept diagram, created by Early Space LLC as part of the Design Volunteer program, pointed out many places on the campus where outdoor learning and lunch could take place.

The school’s PTA used the concept diagram to help them with their planning. They put out a call for help with implementation and the community rallied—stump seating was donated by a local arborist and picnic tables were built and donated by a neighbor, a local hardware store, and a grandfather from the neighborhood. The PTA purchased yoga mats (all in blue to avoid conflict over colors) and several Girl Scout troops worked together to make 100 identical vinyl “sit-upons” (cushions for sitting on the ground).

Classes rotate which areas of the grounds they use for their meals, each day. Teachers sign up on a spreadsheet to reserve one of the eight outdoor spaces on campus, and their whole class then eats together in their designated space that day. Custodians assist with some mat set up, especially for the youngest children, and they also spray clean the mats and picnic tables after each use. The outdoor spaces are so popular that they were all reserved through the end of the year.  

jamestown elementary

Outdoor learning has been part of Jamestown Elementary’s programming for at least a decade. During the pandemic their preschool classes transitioned to be fully outdoors and all grades—plus the music and physical education teachers—use the outdoor learning spaces that dot the wooded campus throughout the day.

Students come to the cafeteria one grade at a time, pick up their Grab and Go lunches, and then walk out the cafeteria door to the newly designed outdoor eating area. This new space is located right outside Principal Michelle McCarthy’s office window so she has a view of her happy students at lunch time. The new outdoor space includes tents and individual desks so that each student has a comfortable surface for their food. The eating area is in a paved open space that is also the bus circle, so each day the custodians set it up and take it down. The tents provide shelter and shade so students can eat outside when it is sunny or drizzly, but they are not used if the weather is windy. Parents are encouraged to dress their children for outdoor weather. This includes sending hats and sunglasses on sunny days.

Repurposed desks and chairs are moved outside for lunch. As more is understood about virus transmission, these clear dividers around each desk are no longer recommended outside.

Students can sit two to a picnic table and still maintain the appropriate distance when masks are off.

Principal David McBride and teachers Eurith Bowen and Dr. Michele Hubert gave a presentation to our Community of Practice describing their work on October 26, 2021. (See the video above.)

kenmore middle School

At Kenmore Middle School, 50% of students speak English as a second language, more than 50% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and approximately 50% of students have an Individualized Education Plan. The school has a focus on the arts that is a unifying theme for all students.

This year, staff from Kenmore Middle School partnered with the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative’s Emergency Schoolyard Design Volunteer program to help them assess their school ground’s potential for using outdoor spaces for learning and dining. The resulting school ground concept diagram, created by a team of design professionals, pointed out many places on the campus where outdoor learning and lunch could take place during the pandemic and beyond.

Next, implementation began. According to principal Dave McBride, “a great group of parents came together and set up stump circles and other outdoor learning spaces around the campus in time for the in-person reopening, and even wrote a grant for two permanent shade structures.” The outdoor eating area adjacent to the cafeteria is now furnished with desks placed in the shade of the building and under a row of trees. It also includes newly donated picnic tables and one of the new shade structures.

The school reports that everyone likes the increased opportunities for social interaction. The cafeteria staff noted that outdoor lunch has turned out to be more organized, more relaxed, quieter, less stressful, and less restricted for them and for students. Teachers of geography, art, physical education, life skills and other classes are beginning to use the new outdoor spaces for instruction during their classes, as well.

Yorktown High School

At Yorktown High School, and all of the high schools in Arlington Public Schools, students have a choice of eating in their cafeteria, in their school’s hallways, and in permanent outdoor eating spaces that are adjacent to their school’s cafeteria. The outdoor dining areas at the high schools across the district have been heavily used during the pandemic. 

At Yorktown High School, the school’s courtyard is furnished with built-in tables and a set of riser steps where students like to sit at mealtimes. Portable tables and chairs were also added during the 2020-21 school year so the courtyard could accommodate more students during lunch periods. When they are outdoors, students can choose to eat in the sun or the shade, at tables or on nearby steps.

Students can choose to eat indoors or outside, in sun or shade, and on steps or at tables.