With Miami-Dade schools opening Monday, here’s what the lunchroom will look like

You have packed your child’s lunchbox or paid for them to get lunch. Simple, right?

Not so fast.

Like everything else, COVID-19 has changed how students will get their school-time meals.

While those students learning remotely can still get meals to go, schools are preparing for those who will now be on campus.

On Monday, Miami-Dade Public Schools will begin a staggered start to in-person classes, with some children in Pre-K, kindergarten and first grades, along with students with disabilities who follow a modified curriculum, returning to the classroom. The reopening of schools will continue through Friday.

Miami schools jolt toward a shaky reopening. Are they ready to prevent COVID spread?

Broward County Public Schools will start in a staggered start on Friday, Oct. 9, and continue through Thursday, Oct. 16.

In some cases, children may be eating at their desks. Others will go to the cafeteria, but there will be social distancing guidelines in place.

Lunch will be one of the only times in the day children can take their masks off, but they must put it on when they are not eating.

“Specific procedures for lunch and breakfast will vary at each school depending on the physical capacity of a school’s cafeteria space,” the district said in its reopening plan. “To promote social distancing, students could eat in the cafeteria, classrooms and/or other designated spaces. “

The school districts in Palm Beach and Monroe counties, which have begun in-person learning, are working in a similar way.

Keys schools tracking their known COVID-19 cases online. They have a few.

In the Florida Keys, the way lunchtime works also varies by school.

Some schools are serving students by the “grab and go” method, where kids line up in the cafeteria — socially distanced and masked — and pick up a meal to eat back in their classrooms, said school district spokeswoman Becky Herrin.

In other schools, staff delivers meals to the kids in their classrooms or a designated dining area, which may include the cafeteria.

Basically, if there is not enough space for social distancing, the kids eat in the classroom.

“The district said, here’s what you need to do, you need to feed the kids,” Herrin said. “Figure out a way to do it safely.”

In Palm Beach County, videos show tables in a courtyard and markers indicating social distance.

“Those attending classes on campus will enjoy traditional meal service free of charge,” Allison Monbleau, director of food service for the School District of Palm Beach, said in a district video. “All kids need food for thought.”

Here is a breakdown of what parents need to know for Miami-Dade and Broward:

Where would my child eat?

Just like in eating establishments across Miami-Dade, schools will be following similar guidelines and safety rules.

Schools will have three options to choose from for dining areas: cafeteria dining, outdoor dining and classroom dining. Each option will have staggered seating.

For classroom dining, food will be delivered to students in pre-kindergarten to second grade. For third to 12th grade, students will get their meals in the cafeteria and then take them back to their classrooms or to other parts of the school designated by school administration.

Students will be given time before and after eating to wash their hands. Custodial staff will also be sanitizing dining surfaces between uses. MDCPS says that because food will be free and cashless, it should streamline the lunch process and time shouldn’t be taken away from class periods.

While eating, students can take off their masks, but will have to put them back on if they are moving around. Parents should remind their children to use hand sanitizer before touching their mask.

The school district is asking parents to talk to their children about not sharing food and similar messages will be reinforced in schools.

An MDCPS reopening video shows there will be floor markings for maintaining social distancing when waiting in line for food and signage that reminds students about staggered seating.

In Broward, where a child eats his or her lunch will also vary by school, depending on space.

At Poinciana Elementary in Key West, meals are picked up by staff and brought to the kids, who eat in their designated classrooms.

Students at Marathon Middle/High School go to the cafeteria to eat while maintaining social distance.

There are fewer kids in the higher grades in the Keys because the district placed students on a schedule where they divide their time between the classroom and virtual learning.

Key West High School has assigned students to different areas deemed suitable for dining.

“They’re not eating in class, but a designated room or outdoors if it’s nice weather,” Herrin said. “That splits them into smaller groups.”

How do I pay for lunch?

Miami-Dade County will offer free meals to all students through December. Payments will not be accepted at this time, but cafeterias will still be cashless.

After December, paying for students meals will be done through cashless, online payments, according to the MDCPS reopening plan.

The plan does not go into details of how this payment plan will work. However, parents were directed to pay for lunches using PayPAMS.com during Phase 1 of school reopenings, when all classes were online and food was distributed at schools. After setting up an account on the website, parents could pay for student lunches.

Student ID cards will replace keypads when getting food, the plan read. Students will use their card to get a meal if their school is doing cafeteria or outside dining. If a school is opting for classroom dining, the teacher will be in charge of the students meals.

According to Broward’s plan, breakfast and lunch will also be free for all students 18 years and younger until Dec. 31. The district is encouraging families to apply for free or reduced-price meals at myschoolapps.com, for when the district returns to the National School Lunch Program.

School districts will still distribute meals to students who are not doing in-person learning.

In Broward, grab-and-go meals will continue to be distributed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Distribution times vary by school.

How is the food distributed?

School food service staff will be given personal protective equipment to wear when serving students. Staff will don gloves, masks and goggles.

Breakfast and lunch will be packaged and given out in single-use containers. For breakfast, food will be offered as “Grab N Go” and eaten in the cafeteria or other areas of the school.

It is not clear in either Miami-Dade or Broward’s plan whether students will still go through a lunch line. But a video explaining Miami-Dade’s reopening rules shows distance markings for lunch lines.

Students who need weekend meals will be given bagged meals to take home.

In the Keys, breakfast is handed out to kids as they exit the bus in the morning, in some cases.

Other students are picking up breakfast in the cafeteria to eat in classrooms.

“Whatever they can do that works for them that incorporates social distancing and safe practices,” Herrin said.

Cleaning and sanitizing goes on throughout the day, she said.

“There’s constant cleaning going on, plus deep cleaning going on when kids and teachers are not there,” Herrin said. “There’s cleaning going on in each individual classroom by staff and teachers in between classes.”