California parents were seething after Patwin Elementary School officials emailed a notice advising parents to dress their children in “warm jackets” and “rain gear” for an upcoming school week that saw cold and rainy temperatures.
According to TheBlaze, Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all children are made to eat their lunches outdoors. Public outcry forced the school to change course on what many parents said was an absurd idea. Patwin Elementary School Principal Gay Bourguignon sent the concerning message this week, which said,
“Rain is forecasted this week which will present an added challenge to our lunch routines. [Davis Joint Unified School District] students are required to eat outside at this time due to COVID restrictions. I am asking you to send your children to school with rain gear and warm jackets.”
Fox News reported that the announcement resulted in an angry response from many parents who took to social media to express frustration with the statement from the principal.
“This exemplifies California’s response with kids during the pandemic,” Reopen California Schools founder Jonathan Zachreson told Fox News. “The inhumane treatment of children continues from masking all day, even outdoors, to having to sit on hot cement and now eating lunch in the rain.”
Republican California state legislator Kevin Kiley tweeted, “Cruelty to children has been normalized in California.” Following the negative reaction from concerned Californians, the Davis Joint Unified School district released a follow-up email stating that children will be allowed to eat inside “whenever possible”
and stressed that the district is facing “unique challenges as we seek to maintain our students’ health and safety and minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection.” Following that email, Principal Bourguignon sent parents a third email reversing course and acknowledging that some people were upset with the decision to force kids to eat in the rain.
