We would go eat in the gym in high school and junior high and the auditorium in elementary school. It sucked eating in the gym because there were no tables so we just sat on the floor for an hour and then went to class; at least the auditorium has tables and chairs. Same thing for rain or other inclement weather.
We’re in San Diego. If it’s just cold the kids eat outside, but “cold” here means about 60 degrees. If it’s raining, there is an option to set up tables in the auditorium.
In my ES you always ate outside, unless you bought your lunch in the cafeteria. When it rained, and you brought your lunch from home, you ate in your classroom. It was the only time you were in the classroom without the teacher present.
San Diego here too, but I went to school in Los Angeles. At my high school (and I think all the other grades now that I really reach back) the cafeteria was open air, but covered. So if it rained you wouldn’t get wet, but if it was cold, too bad.
In high school, many of us (OKAY I AM A NERD SO SUE ME) ate lunch in various classrooms. Our campus was closed, so technically we were not allowed to leave to go elsewhere.
If it was raining, we had lunch in the auditorium in elementary school.
In junior high, we HAD to eat in the auditorium. We weren’t allowed to eat outside, period.
In high school, we could eat pretty much wherever the hell we wanted, including off campus. The cafeteria was always open if you wanted to eat in there, but I don’t remember doing it very often. My friends and I would usually eat in the classrooms of favorite teachers if it was cold or rainy, IIRC. The rest of the time we ate in the quad.
Elementary school–we always ate in the cafeteria. No such thing as eating outside. (This has been true at the schools I’ve worked at too.)
Jr. High–you could eat inside or outside. I think it got pretty crowded indoors on wet days, but I can’t remember.
High school–hardly anyone ate inside if they could help it. There was a cafeteria/auditorium, and it was really full on rainy days, but I also remember sitting on concrete in the hallways to eat rather than go in. Campus consisted of a whole lot of small buildings with overhangs over the paths, so people would eat there. Or, of course, go off campus.
In elementary school we had a covered area with two rows of picnic tables that was usable in just about any weather (in West Hollywood). IIRC they wouldn’t let us play outdoor games if the weather was very hot, like over 90F.
In middle school and high school there were cafeterias, and you could buy food and eat it there, or take it outside and eat it, or you could bring your own. IIRC there wasn’t any place where you could bring food and eat it inside, but again, this was in L.A. so it wasn’t a problem.
In the 70’s when I was in elementary school, we ate at our desks in our classroom. Later the school build a proper cafeteria and we had to eat there. No eating outside.
Jr. high and highschool we could eat pretty much anywhere on campus.
My son’s elementary school has indoor and outdoor eating areas.
In high school the cafeteria was where “losers” ate lunch. My group was either on the steps at the edge of the quad or sitting on the school mascot mosaic near the base of the steps. If it rained, there was either the covered tables, the choir room or whatever room the drama club met in.
*:I was in Oregon at that time where eating outside was :dubious: unfeasible.
My Silicon Valley elementary, jr high, and high schools all had places for us to eat indoors. In elementary school, we could either eat in the cafeteria or in certain places outside – no food was allowed on the playground, though, I think. I do know that on rainy days there was a rainy day schedule, which probably sucked for our teachers because we ate in the cafeteria and then went back to our classrooms for games instead of running around on the playground.
In Elementry School we ate in our classroom, usually with a movie playing. In High School we would eat in a classroom too, although it wasn’t manditory. Most people would just go under one of the over-hangs. I grew up in Northern California by the way, so rain was fairly common in the winter.
In elementary school, the auditorium. In junior high, the gym. In high school, the classrooms. I don’t even think my junior high or high school even had a cafeteria. Food was served in a small walk-through area, the line for it was outside.
I didn’t go to elementary school in California, but my sisters and brother did. Their elementary school had a cafeteria that doubled as an auditorium, basically the same setup my daughter’s elementary school has now. My middle school had a cafeteria as well as an outdoor area with a roof over picnic tables and some vending machines. Since it was a year-round school at the time, where you ate was determined by which track you were in. My high school also had an indoor cafeteria, but it was always overcrowded, plus it was considered much cooler to eat outdoors on the quad. The coolest kids ate off-campus, either at the burger place two blocks away or were driven to Taco Bell by whichever friend had a car already.
I went to school in Berkeley K-12. If the weather was nasty we always had classrooms and school cafeterias available to eat in, we’d congregate in the halls, etc. No shortage of places to seek shelter.
In ES we usually ate in the auditorium, but some days they would let us sit on the grassy slope behind the building. When we were finished eating, we could go out to the playground. On rainy days, we’d go back to our classroom.
In JH we could eat in the auditorium or outside in either an open space area or an area sheltered under the main school building (most of the building was raised about 15 feet off the ground). After we ate, we could rent a ball to play soccer or basketball or climb on some big rocks that they had scattered around campus (which I completely forgot about until now).
In HS, we had a cafeteria to eat in, but most people ate out in the quad or behind the cafeteria where there were tables. Juniors and Seniors could go off campus.
Not to hijack the thread, but this got me to wondering about gymnasiums. Only my HS had one (although they built one at my old JH a few years ago). Did anyone have one in ES or JH?
My elementary school had one, but it was a K-12 school, so that may not count. I don’t remember any of my schools before I started that one (in 4th grade) having one.