Weird School Punishment

[Wishing on a star]

Is this a regular Public School, or a unique Private School.

I would think that it is Federal (not just State) Law that all children MUST be given the opportunity to eat lunch every single day. A lunch that meets Federal Nutrition Guidelines.

I would find out the truth. If it was indeed true that my child were not served lunch, then I would report it immediately.

There are many diabetic children!

Find out the truth. (Starting with other parents) and then go from there.

 

[Wishing on a star]

irishbosoxfan,

If your story is true, then it just sickens me.

Our 'wonderful' educational system at work.

 

[CEDmom]

Well, I just called my neighbor and she is going to ask her daughter, who is also in the 4th grade, what happened at lunch yesterday. I want to see if I can corroborate things before I call the school. But my neighbor said it would not surprise her at all given other strange things the school has done. She said she has pretty much kept her distance at the school this year because the way they do things bugs her so much. She also thinks they are way too strict at lunch with the no talking stuff.

Anyway, I'll let you know what I find out from her and the school.

Also, I just wanted to say if my son were going to lie to cover spending his money on snack cakes, I'm pretty sure he would have just said he had tacos (or whatever) for lunch. (I'd have no way of knowing.) He's not one for elaborate stories!

I hope there's some logical explanation for what happened. Using food as punishment/reward is just wrong on so many levels. I do have to say though that if so many parents are unhappy about what's going on why don't you get involved with the PTO and recommend changes. Believe me the school is more likely to listen to parents who are active than just ones who complain (I'm not saying you're that type of parent) but we all know ones who are. Good luck.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Sorry Disney Doll,

But your post just disgusts me.
Food deprivation should NEVER be a punshment.
guess you didn't think about diabetic kids either....
And, just how are these kids supposed to be well-behaved and to actually 'learn' when they are starving and have low blood sugar.

That is why it is the LAW that kids are given the opportunity to eat lunch every day.

The Federal school nutrition program provides matching funds to the States in order to provide lunch to the kids. This money comes with STRICT guidelines. In order to get these funds, the schools are required to meet nutritional standards. Down to percentages of protein, etc... If a child is not being given the opportunity to eat. Then the school is NOT meeting these standards.

Believe me, guys, we are talking about a LOT of money here. The way to make sure your kid gets fed is to go report these kinds of problems to the Federal Authorities.

 

[Wishing on a star]

CEDmom, I see what you are saying.... but I should not have to be active in the schools organizations to be able to request that my child be able to eat every day!

 

[SC Minnie]

No wonder those notes get sent home reminding us the feed our kids a good breakfast!

DD's schools have never withheld lunch that I know of. If they did I would be livid to put it mildly and if I did not get satisfaction from the school system then the media would be my next call.

There should be no excuse to deny growing children food.

 

[TheRatPack]

Even when we have early dismissal for snow or sleet....etc. They let the kids go eat lunch early so that they don't waste food. I would think that they surely would not hold lunch from a whole group of children like that.

 

[CEDmom]

Somehow I doubt anyone would die from missing lunch.

My God, I'd hate to be in education today.

Of course no one will die but do you honestly think this a good method of punishment ? I can't imagine kids would be all that attentive during the afternoon if all they're thinking about is being hungry. If every child in a cafeteria is sitting and talking in a normal voice to a friend it's going to be loud in the room. I'm all for following rules and giving out consequences but this is not an effective one. Why can't the noisy/unruly kids be made to eat a quiet table where no talking is allowed? A few days of that would probably correct the situation.

 

[mylilnikita]

My DD is in 2nd grade and they are allowed to talk during lunch time, if they get rowdy, the cafeteria lights go out and stay out for a few minutes after the kids have settled down. If my child was not able to eat and the principal and school board was of no help as another poster discussed, a call to the local news channel to investigate it would make them change their mind real fast. Hope it was a mis communication, because that is just wrong.

 

[Beth76]

Somehow I doubt anyone would die from missing lunch.

Of course no one is going to die from missing lunch. That's not the issue. My kids have skipped an occasional meal before, but they were always offered a meal. My kids aren't in school yet, but I still tend to favor the school in cases like these. In this case though, the school is just WRONG, if this is indeed what happened. And if you noticed, the OP isn't rushing up to school and reaming out the staff. She's trying to find out the whole story.

 

[ckay87]

Somehow I doubt anyone would die from missing lunch.

My God, I'd hate to be in education today.

Oh that's just wrong. I don't know where to start with that.

I get the gist of your "hate to be in education" as I think lots of parents are really needlessly hard on teachers. I get that, ok?

But...are you really suggesting that it's okay to withhold food from kids as punishment?

Compare it to this...your EMPLOYER is required to give you a certain amount of breaks. How would you like someone telling you you can't eat? I understand at work sometimes we get busy and can't take the time or whatever, but how would it feel to have to have your employer forbid you to eat? How about if you didn't have breakfast?

I so want to hear the outcome of this story. And I agree, 4th graders can't really be compared to preschoolers. My bet is that maybe a group was told to wait or go to the back of the line and they ran out of time. But IMO, they should still have been given time to eat a complete lunch, even if it were just during recess. Please keep us posted.

 

[elgerber]

Somehow I doubt anyone would die from missing lunch.

My God, I'd hate to be in education today.

I wasn't going to post on this thread, but this comment just kills me. What a cold comment. I don't know about you, but if I had to go all day without eating, I would have a real hard time functioning by afternoon. And expecting a child to keep their concentration and focus when they are really hungry is ridiculous.

 

[yeartolate]

Somehow I doubt anyone would die from missing lunch.

My God, I'd hate to be in education today.

I totally agree.

Totally not the best punishment ever given out, but hardly worthy of alot of anger.

When I was growing up, a common punishment was to send kids to their room without dinner. Many of my friends were subjected to this criminal punishment - they all survived and were not scarred for life.

My guess was that this was a "punishment of opportunity". A bunch of kids (that should have known better 4 years ago) would not shut up before lunch. The teacher knew they were in no position to go through the tray line in a civilized fashion. She took the punishment that was available to her. I agree, not a perfect one.


Sadly, I am sure alot of parents are gonna give this teacher a disproportionate amount of grief over this. The principal is gonna have to disipline the teacher --- and an entire grade of hellions are gonna learn to play victim.

 

[yeartolate]

I wasn't going to post on this thread, but this comment just kills me. What a cold comment. I don't know about you, but if I had to go all day without eating, I would have a real hard time functioning by afternoon. And expecting a child to keep their concentration and focus when they are really hungry is ridiculous.

I hardly think so.

The kid should have had a good breakfast before coming to school. If lunch is at 12 - kids are probably out by 3. They can get a bite to eat when they get home at three (or whatever aftercare they have) . I will bet most parents on this board taking their little ones to WDW have been late getting their kids lunch. They are not missing a meal for the WHOLE day.

Now, if a kid left home without a good breakfast - whose fault is that?

By the way, I will bet the kids will be quieter next time, huh?

 

[darrose]

Posts like these makes me so happy that my kids go to school in such a wonderful school district. The school districts has plenty of other tricks up their sleeve to use if needed than denying kids their lunch. One example is lunch with the principal. !!
Our school policies are in the student/parent book which explains the schools rules and the various punishments if needed. I would check in there to see if its an allowable school punishment at your school and go from there based on what the policy says is allowable or not.

I guess another thing to be thankful for is lunch time at our schools children are allowed to unwind a little and talk freely with their friends in normal conversation voices. Not sure I would ever want to have to send my children to a school where lunch is so quiet that one can hear a pin drop.

 

[elgerber]

I hardly think so.

The kid should have had a good breakfast before coming to school. If lunch is at 12 - kids are probably out by 3. They can get a bite to eat when they get home at three (or whatever aftercare they have) . I will bet most parents on this board taking their little ones to WDW have been late getting their kids lunch. They are not missing a meal for the WHOLE day.

Now, if a kid left home without a good breakfast - whose fault is that?

I don't really agree with this either. My dd, who is in 4th grade, has to eat by 8 to get to the bus on time. She gets home at 4. This is 8 hours in between meals. When we go to WDW my kids do not eat late, we eat at our normal time, or even a little bit early, as we are walking so much. My son, in 7th grade, has to eat at 6:30 and gets home at 3, 8 1/2 hours without food if he didn't get lunch. I think this is too long for a child (or anyone else) to go without eating.

 

[LBAK]

IMO, lunch should be a time where kids should be able to talk. Lunch rooms are noisy and that's OK. If kids are sitting down, eating and talking I don't see what the problem is. They need down time. Lunch aides know what they're getting into when they get the job. This is the time where they can vent and let off steam. I have lunch everyday with my students and it's a time for them to socialize. As long as they're seated and behaving they can talk. I would be up at that school in a hurry. Here in NY we can't withhold food from a child.
I hope the day went better today!

 

[yeartolate]

But I ask, what is the damage of missing one meal? 8 hours without a meal? ONE TIME? So your kids have never missed a meal under your care? I consider myself to be a very good mother and I can't tell you how many times lunch has turned into an early dinner - because life happens. So I guess now I need to report myself to CPS - especially since I am sure it will happen many more times.

I agree there were much better punishments. Many of which would have taken out of their classroom work. But nobody would be upset about that, right?

Unfortunatly, what the teacher needs is control of the students. One way is for parents to support the teachers need for authority. Just as when a father sends down a punishment too harsh and the mother will not back him up. What it leaves is the kids in control.

If the punishment was really outlandish, fine. But this was a punishment that Ward Cleaver would give to the Beaver on a regular basis.

What is being missed here is why the entire 4th grade was acting up. I am curious if this was a single teacher's class or multiple 4th grade classes. I probably would have sent the entire 4th grade class back to kindergarden for the afternoon to relearn that lesson.

There have been a number of "bad teacher punishment" threads that just leave me . Last one I remember was that a teacher would cause a naughty child longstanding emotional harm for writing their name on the chalkboard. How can a teach win? 30 different individualized punishments for 30 different kids?

 

[Glynis]

I hardly think so.

The kid should have had a good breakfast before coming to school. If lunch is at 12 - kids are probably out by 3. They can get a bite to eat when they get home at three (or whatever aftercare they have) . I will bet most parents on this board taking their little ones to WDW have been late getting their kids lunch. They are not missing a meal for the WHOLE day.

Now, if a kid left home without a good breakfast - whose fault is that?

By the way, I will bet the kids will be quieter next time, huh?

As a former teacher, I have to comment on this. In our school district we have a lot of students from poorer families. Many students never have breakfast at home; their parents can't afford it. The free school lunch program is all the food they'll eat most days. Luckily, our district has now instituted a free breakfast policy. Those kids can come to school 45 minutes early and the lunch staff will provide oatmeal, cold cereal, eggs, etc. for them.

Sometimes, it's not the child's fault that he had to leave home without breakfast.

 

[darrose]

When I was a kid corpal punishment was allowed. Not sure I want to go back to the good ole days. Luckily, our school district has wonderful, wonderful teachers and for that I am most thankful.