Lunch Detention.....

[agnes!]

It's a private school, the mother must have known about the various student disciplinary policies when she signed on the dotted line and handed over her check.

That being said, I do think it sounds wierd, to punish a kid with no food...wonder how often the kid has to go without, maybe Mom is hoping the punishment will be effective ?

agnes!

 

[DizBelle]

I work at a school. There are two things a child absolutely cannot be denied for punishment - food during specified meal periods and access to a toilet. You can eliminate a misbehaving child from a party or deny a special snack (like cupcakes at a party), but you cannot deny them a meal if it's during the school day.

Does it matter that it's a private school vs. a public school?

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I work at a school. There are two things a child absolutely cannot be denied for punishment - food during specified meal periods and access to a toilet. You can eliminate a misbehaving child from a party or deny a special snack (like cupcakes at a party), but you cannot deny them a meal if it's during the school day.

Perhaps someone with a better sense of the law can come along, but I don't think what you said is necessarily true. If this Private School is not enrolled in any of the State Lunch programs, they are not bound to offer the children anything. And, in most cases, a school only has to offer the lunch, they don't have to feed the children. This is how a lot of schools get away with not letting a child eat if their "flex account" is empty and/or past due.

 

[DizBelle]

It's a private school, the mother must have known about the various student disciplinary policies when she signed on the dotted line and handed over her check.

That being said, I do think it sounds wierd, to punish a kid with no food...wonder how often the kid has to go without, maybe Mom is hoping the punishment will be effective ?

agnes!

My impression is that the primary reason for the girl racking up enough violations to get a detention is that she is late (in the morning) and it is usually Mom's (or traffic's) fault because she has to drive her. There isn't much the kid can do about Mom or the traffic.

One violation was for a uniform issue. She is supposed to wear specific uniform elements on specific days and she "forgot" and wore the wrong skirt or something (she wore the blue one instead of the grey one - the horror!). That one is all on the 15 year old.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Perhaps someone with a better sense of the law can come along, but I don't think what you said is necessarily true. If this Private School is not enrolled in any of the State Lunch programs, they are not bound to offer the children anything. And, in most cases, a school only has to offer the lunch, they don't have to feed the children. This is how a lot of schools get away with not letting a child eat if their "flex account" is empty and/or past due.

I don't know what state the OP is in, but where I live you can't punish a child by denying a child access to scheduled food or snacks, it's considered abusive.

If you spend your flex money on video games and are broke in the lunch line, the school doesn't have to feed you, anymore than Walmart would have to sell you something if you didn't have money. But if it's lunch time and you have your lunch from home, or have money to buy, or are on FARMS, we have to let you eat it.

If they have 5 minutes to eat silently, that's probably not a problem. If you actually didn't allow them to eat, then it is.

We actually also can't deny breakfast as a consequence for being late. If a child comes in late and asks for food we can't say "sorry, cafeteria's closed" we need to give them something. However, that's a local law not a federal one.

 

[msjprincess]

Where I live the school has to feed them even if they have no money left in their account. they're not allowed to buy snacks but they can still get lunch.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Where I live the school has to feed them even if they have no money left in their account. they're not allowed to buy snacks but they can still get lunch.

Usually this is not a State/Federal law, though. It's good business on the School District's part to institute such a rule, since it would cause the parents to grab the pitchforks if the school was denying lunch to students.

By the letter of the law in some States, however, they school does not have to institute such a rule. In the case of Private Institutions, they don't even have to participate in the "free lunch" programs, let alone any other mealtime laws.

 

[tiggersbombed2]

Could be a case of the child not properly relating what happens, or it could be true. I would check into it if it were my child, because if they aren't allowed to eat there would be TROUBLE!

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

I would think that a private school would have different requirements on what is legal punishment than a public school would.

However, even if they do have to follow the same "they must get a meal" rule, the fact they allow them the 5 minutes probably covers them from any ramifications. The child was allowed to eat, they just were not allowed to do it in a leisurely manner.

Sounds to me like your co-worker needs to plan their time in the morning better and make sure she gets her daughter to school on time.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Interesting that hot sauce and cold showers are ok, but god forbid they miss a lunch! (j/k)

At my kids' school lunch detention is taken in a common area, not a room. The offender can eat lunch, but must sit in a chair in the common area, ie on public display, while all the other kids file past on their way to the cafeteria.

 

[dawson5]

When I was in HS, in-school detentions there was no food allowed. You had the choice of lunch period or after-school (which wouldn't keep you from eating lunch). This allowed the parents to be a part of the process, fully aware of the consequences (no lunch or you have to pick them up after school instead of riding bus home.).

I have talked with my kids about detentions at their schools. When they were in grade school, rarely were there detentions given and I believe only after school. In middle school, same option I had in high school with the exception that they were allowed food. They had like 5-10 minutes to eat. They also watched what you ate. You were only allowed healthy food and they would not allow you to have the cookie mom gave you or chips, things like that. Also I think they were only allowed water or milk, not chocolate and no fruit juice. The rest of the time was spent working on homework or if you didn't bring something, they gave you something to do.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Does it matter that it's a private school vs. a public school?

It shouldn't. My son went to a private school and they had lunchtime detention for a few years. It worked better cause the kids hated it and behaved better and the parents didn't have to worry about getting them home.

I would be complaining bigtime.

 

[minkydog]

This is a co-workers child. She is 15 (9th or 10th grade) and this is a private school. If you get 3 "violations" (late, incorrect uniform, etc) then you get a lunch detention. My co-worker said that she goes to a room where they just sit and do nothing. They may get 5 minutes or so after the detention to eat something before they have to run to their next class. With only 5 minutes, you don't have time to chew.

I think CPS would consider this type of disipline abusive. Perhaps your friend should call them and ask their opinion.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Missing one meal should not be considered abuse; possible exception being the kid who's only meal is while at school. But I doubt a kid like that would be going to private school and if they were the school officials would probably know about it.

Getting use to missing a meal here and there would probably be good for most kids considering a missed meal while at work has been known to happen.

 

[krcit]

I think that if it bothers the mom then she should get her dd to school on time. If she has 5 minutes to eat a granola bar then I don't think it's a big deal. She's 15, not 5. Some kids in my dd's high school don't have any lunch period because of jam packed schedules, they eat a quick snack during class.

 

[luvmy3]

They are put in a room and not allowed food while in there.

This is what my co-worker says that her daugher says. So, take that for what it's worth. I did ask if she was sure that they weren't allowed to eat and she said yes. I asked how they are supposed to be able to focus on lessons in the afternoon when they are hungy but she didn't seem too concerned.

I know a few HS students who have intentionally not scheduled a lunch period, they are Juniors now and have been doing it since they were freshman. They will have all their graduation requirements done a year early and they have been doing just fine the last 3 years without sitting down for 30 minutes to have lunch.

I think CPS would consider this type of disipline abusive. Perhaps your friend should call them and ask their opinion.

I think her friend would be laughed at if she called and asked if a 15 year old was given 5 minutes to eat lunch was it abusive.

I don't have a problem with that punishment, as long as it is in the school handbook somewhere and students and parents are aware. We are talking about High School students not Kindergarteners, they'll be just fine if they have to scarf down their sandwhich in 5 minutes in a romm away from their friends.

 

[mhsjax]

Missing one meal should not be considered abuse; possible exception being the kid who's only meal is while at school. But I doubt a kid like that would be going to private school and if they were the school officials would probably know about it.

Getting use to missing a meal here and there would probably be good for most kids considering a missed meal while at work has been known to happen.

Until you have someone like me or my kids and have blood sugar issues. I must have something at meal time or else I get very ill. And in my 14 years of working full time, I never missed lunch. I may have not gone out, but I ate something at my desk.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I don't think it's too much of an issue, as long as the kid does have a few minutes to scarf down some food at the end, before the bell rings. I worked in a middle school where lunch detentions were the norm (we couldn't do after-school detentions without notifying the parents 3 days in advance, and all that jazz, so most detentions were done at lunch) and the standard detention was 30 minutes. The kids had 50 minutes for lunch so the kids then went down to the cafeteria to eat their lunches after their detention... which was almost even more of a punishment because the other kids would already be outside playing by that time, so they would then have to eat alone while their friends played or did lunchtime sports.

 

[kirstenb1]

no, our school has silent lunch at a table far away from the action

 

[sunnyday123]

They are put in a room and not allowed food while in there.

This is what my co-worker says that her daugher says. So, take that for what it's worth. I did ask if she was sure that they weren't allowed to eat and she said yes. I asked how they are supposed to be able to focus on lessons in the afternoon when they are hungy but she didn't seem too concerned.

I would check with the school first, but if this were true, I'd have a huge problem with it.