CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Growing up, you might have fond memories of mom, dad or even grandparents surprising you for lunch at school.
However, for some school districts, those days are in the past -- whether that's a result of the pandemic or security concerns.
In the Gregory-Portland Independent School District the visitor policy does not allow parents to show up and sit in and have lunch with their kids. Its a change some parents said robs them of their bonding time and memories.
GPISD parent Megan Axelsen said that the updated policy makes it impossible for her to create memories with her son at school.
"I was informed that was not a possibility and it really broke my heart," she said.
While G-PISD does allow parents on campus for official school business like a teacher conference, in August of 2022 the district released a safety and security update for families. That does not include those school lunch visits.
Axelsen told 3NEWS that she wants her parent privileges back. She started the group G-PISD Parents United.
"When I realized this wasn't just myself at my school but other campuses, I was like 'oh my gosh we have a real problem here', the bonds of families and parents and grandparents and those who love their children are meeting a brick wall," she said.
John Reed is another local parent who has been doing what he can to call attention to the issue.
"Were not looking for anything new. We're not trying to open doors wide up and just let anyone go into the schools, but we do want to see activities return to pre-COVID status, even if that involves additional security measures," he said.
3NEWS spoke with G-PISD Superintendent Michelle Cavazos about the current policy. She said safety wasn't the only contributing factor for the decision.
"But also there's space consideration, we also recognize again not every student is able to have a visitor who can come during that lunch hour," he said. "That time is really critical for students and their socialization with their peers during that lunch hour."
Cavazos said parents do have the option to check their student out and take them to lunch off campus, then check them back in.
The district also allows parents to signup as volunteers during the school day.
You can find that information on the district's website.
As for Grandparents' Day, Cavazos said some schools held it on the weekends and had picnics.
"School leaders indicated they had significantly more participation than in the past," she said.
Meetings have taken place between district officials and the group of concerned parents, but both John and Megan are hoping to get more parents to give their input during next week's school board meeting.
"We need parents to show up. We can not count on thinking others are going to show up for us," she said.
When checking in with area districts, we learned that CCISD is also closed to visitors during lunch- and Callalen ISD is taking a hybrid approach allowing lunch visits on certain days depending on the campus.