MCPS policy committee recommends rescinding 1978 open-lunch rule, sends matter to full board

The Montgomery County Board of Education Policy Management Committee on May 13 recommended that the full board consider rescinding Policy JEF, the 1978 rule that governs open lunch for high schools.

Vice Chair Brenda Wolf moved that the committee recommend rescinding Policy JEF; student member Anuva Malu seconded the motion and the committee voted in favor, with Malu, Natalie Zimmerman (District 2) and Wolf voting yes and Julie Yang (District 3) voting no. The committee asked staff to provide safety, attendance and fiscal analyses before the full board’s tentative action scheduled for May 21, 2026.

Robin Seabrook, chief legal officer for Montgomery County Public Schools, told the committee that Policy JEF was enacted in 1978 and has an accompanying regulation adopted in 1979 and revised in 1995. "The general rule in that policy is that students are required to remain on campus at lunchtime," Seabrook said while summarizing the policy history and the regulation’s petition process for student governments.

Donna Redmond Jones, an associate superintendent, described how open-lunch arrangements vary across the district: "Out of 25 high schools in MCPS, 11 schools have some form of open lunch," she said, adding that seven of those limit access to juniors and seniors or require parental permission in some cases. Jones read the schools currently reporting open-lunch arrangements as Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Einstein, Walter Johnson, Damascus, Paint Branch, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Richard Montgomery, Watkins Mill, Whitman and Winston Churchill.

Members pressed staff for data to help the board weigh policy options. Julie Yang cited a April 30, 2026 board memo about the district’s meal enterprise fund and said the Department of Nutrition and Food Services "operated at a loss of $5,800,000 in FY 2025 and it is anticipated to be operating at a loss for about $2,000,000 in FY 2026." Yang asked staff to quantify how closing or changing open lunch would affect meal counts, staffing hours and the enterprise fund.

Several board members also said they were concerned about safety and community impacts. Natalie Zimmerman said community feedback has often been unfavorable toward open lunch and cited reports of thefts, physical altercations and police responses near businesses that receive a large lunchtime influx. "These issues could be mitigated or resolved if students were at school," Zimmerman said.

Staff outlined options for the board, including modifying the policy, prohibiting open lunch, temporarily suspending it for a school year while collecting more information, or rescinding the policy (which would require following the board’s public-comment and policy-development procedures). Seabrook said the superintendent had been exploring a more standardized regulatory approach but sought board input before changing a regulation tied to the policy.

Committee members debated timing: Julie Yang moved to postpone further action until the fall to allow broader community engagement, saying summer comment periods would miss students and some families; the motion failed for lack of a second. Wolf then moved to send a recommendation to rescind to the full board; the motion passed in committee by a 3–1 margin.

Next steps: the committee will ask the full board to take tentative action on the recommendation to rescind at its May 21 business meeting and staff will return with the requested attendance, safety and fiscal data for committee and board review.

Votes at a glance: Policy JEF rescission recommendation — Committee vote: 3 yes (Anuva Malu, Natalie Zimmerman, Brenda Wolf), 1 no (Julie Yang); outcome: committee recommends rescission; tentative full board consideration scheduled May 21, 2026.