Gallup Hill PTO Sets Sights on 'Cafetorium'

Most office workers are aware that eating lunch at their desks is a bad habit, and that getting out of the cubicle at lunchtime every day can be good for everything from digestion to one's mental health.

For years, however, the town's elementary school children have been eating lunch at their desks because the schools have no cafeterias.

Now Gallup Hill School, with the help of its very active PTO, hopes to change that by converting the school's gymnasium into a "cafetorium."

"The biggest problem with eating lunch in the classroom is that it's messy, and it blurs the line between the academic and social arenas – not to mention what we would do if we had food allergies to deal with," said Gallup Hill School principal Jennifer Byars. "Just for kids to be able to get out of the classroom would be huge."

Gallup Hill was the first elementary school in town to receive lunches prepared by Long Island-based Whitson Food Services. The lunches are prepared at the high school and delivered to each classroom, a system Byars said is inefficient.

The school is proposing to purchase and install fold-out lunch tables and benches that could be pulled out from the wall in the gymnasium and then returned after lunch. Byars said the tables would be pulled out and pushed back by the custodial staff, but students would be assigned to help clean up and wipe down the tables after each shift.

The school's approximately 350 students would eat lunch in two shifts. The cost of the folding tables and benches would be around $54,000, which includes the cost of a new floor cleaner.

And that's where the PTO comes in.

"We have a wonderful group of more than 100 parent volunteers," said PTO president Stephanie Calhoun. "The group has really been very active and very successful in fund-raising."

The PTO is planning to do a mailing to local businesses and residents in the Gallup Hill School district soliciting help, and possibly offering a chance to "buy a seat" in the new cafetorium. 

In past years the PTO raised money to pay for several Promethean smart boards at the school, and is in the midst of a $15,000 fund-raiser to upgrade the media center. "I don't think anyone's questioning our ability to raise the money," Calhoun said.

In addition to soliciting funds locally, the school is also exploring the possibility of qualifying for a grant to purchase the tables.

Byars said the timing is somewhat strategic. Gallup Hill this year will be the last of the town's elementary school to have asbestos removed. "We figured since we're already ripping up the floor in the gymnasium, why not make some other improvements?"

With the new tables and benches, the cafetorium would become much more attractive for community events, such as back-to-school pot luck suppers or spaghetti dinner fund-raisers, Calhoun said.

"So if people are struggling with a gift idea this year, they can always make a donation in the name of that friend or family member," she said.