COVID-19 has impacted all of our lives, our relationships with friends, family, and mental health. In school many things were affected such as the schedule, the students, even school lunch. Before the pandemic in March 2020, AITE school lunches were tasty, hot, and ready to eat. Because of COVID-19 protocols, Stamford Public School lunches were forced to serve cold lunch on small trays in plastic wrap. AITE students have various opinions on this year’s lunch, and many students feel that it’s a downgrade from previous years.

One student said, “I think it’s basic and it gets cold very quickly and I think it has gotten a lot worse since we returned to school since the pandemic.” The student preferred to keep their name hidden.

AITE principal Tina Rivera thinks it’s nice of Stamford Public Schools to make lunch free this year for the students, even if some of the menus lack variety. During the 2019-2020 school year, AITE had a variety of school lunches to choose from, ranging from salads to hot lunches to making your own custom wraps. Due to the pandemic, many precautions were taken to make the lunch more sanitary and safe for the students. Because of this new lunch style, many students have started bringing their lunch from home or leaving the school to get their own lunch.

According to Rivera, she has no expected date of when the regular school lunch will be back, but she is hoping for the beginning of next year for “things to go back to normal.”