Weird School Punishment

[disney junky]

never mind....

our school serves tasty kakes....here in Pennsylvania

 

[AllNamesTaken]

If they denied the kids food, it's illegal. Call the school dept in your town to see who to file a complaint with. Tell your son if it happens again to pretend he's sick, go to the nurse and have her call you. Ask her to get the principal on the phone so you can send her to the cafeteria pronto!!

 

[yeartolate]

I agree. Before I started volunteering in class, I was not only given the allergy/illness for my son's class - but the entire grade. (3 -5 classes depending on the grade). Each teacher in each grade I voluteered in gave me the information.


I am also curious about the diabetics in the class (if any). I would assume they would bring their own lunch since they are so tightly controlled on their diet. I would think with a young child it would be a nightmare to allow cafeteria food.

 

[C.Ann]

Teachers normally don't accompany their students to the lunch room - nor do they monitor their activities there - so unless the lunch room monitors are aware of each child's individual health issues, there could definitely be a problem concerning diabetic children..

 

[yeartolate]

If they denied the kids food, it's illegal. Call the school dept in your town to see who to file a complaint with. Tell your son if it happens again to pretend he's sick, go to the nurse and have her call you. Ask her to get the principal on the phone so you can send her to the cafeteria pronto!!

Did you forget CPS and 911?

 

[disney junky]

Teachers normally don't accompany their students to the lunch room - nor do they monitor their activities there - so unless the lunch room monitors are aware of each child's individual health issues, there could definitely be a problem concerning diabetic children..

I agree. But if a diabetic child came back to class and told the teacher he hadn't eaten, the teacher would be aware of the potential dangers for him.

 

[Daxx]

I can't wait to hear what really happened. You all know there's going to be the kid's version, the school's version and the truth somewhere in the middle. B/c, let's face it ... that's the way it usually goes!

 

[mum4jenn]

Teachers normally don't accompany their students to the lunch room - nor do they monitor their activities there - so unless the lunch room monitors are aware of each child's individual health issues, there could definitely be a problem concerning diabetic children..

Schools down here do not have "monitors". The teachers bring them to the lunchroom, most of them either go through the line with them or they stand at the cashier stand to monitor their students. The teachers have three round tables in the middle of the room where they eat along with the Principals,etc. Usually during teacher appreciation week they get parent volunteers to watch the children so the teachers can have duty free lunch.I monitor what they get on their trays and if I see a child running or something I can tell them to stop but mostly if I go over to speak with a student the teacher is right there to see if there is a problem.

After reading about some of these schools I am even more thankful for the wonderful schools we have!!!

 

[gradtchr]

Deep Breath-For those who said that children wouldn't die from missing a meal, or that it's not that big of a deal I am sorry but I disagree with you. In many situations there are children from low income families where the school lunch is the ONLY meal they get during the day, very sad but true. Some of those children are lucky enough to go home and have just a tiny bite to eat but it depends on the situation and what other programs parents have access to and their situations

Food and nutrition is absolutely necessary for children in school. By not being able to eat attention and focus is lost in the classroom. I mean who can pay attention during a meeting when you're hungry? I know I can't. The U.S. has a national school lunch program for a REASON! Yes it is probably abused in some cases, and not used in other cases that it should be. The problem is so serious that many districts and cities have programs in place so that children are able to get meals during the summer months.

It really makes me sick that schools think that withholding food is an acceptable punishment. Food withholding should never be a punishment to school age children.

To the OP yikes for the 4th graders is all I can say! I do have a feeling that no food will be withheld today if it's a test day, and would be surprised if even more wasn't provided than normal.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I agree. Before I started volunteering in class, I was not only given the allergy/illness for my son's class - but the entire grade. (3 -5 classes depending on the grade). Each teacher in each grade I voluteered in gave me the information.


I am also curious about the diabetics in the class (if any). I would assume they would bring their own lunch since they are so tightly controlled on their diet. I would think with a young child it would be a nightmare to allow cafeteria food.

YTL, Ummmmm, wrong again!!! There is nothing wrong with cafeteria food for a diabetic child. It is 'FOOD'. Now, withholding food, or giving them nothing but sweet sugary Debbie Cakes instead of food. HUGE problem.

Your attitude continues to disgust me.
I am sitting here giving thanks that it is not my sons class that you are involved with. I would have to say that your attitude and lack of knowledge about basic nutrition and health make me have serious doubts if you should be in any classroom.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Just wanted to add that, I too, am curious as to what the true story is in the situation!

 

[C.Ann]

I agree. But if a diabetic child came back to class and told the teacher he hadn't eaten, the teacher would be aware of the potential dangers for him.

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This is true - but the point is that it shouldn't be necessary.. There is no justification for not allowing children to eat lunch during the course of their school day.. I've worked in a school cafeteria myself and if we had attempted to deny a child food for any reason - let alone something as insignificant as being noisy - you can bet we would have been in hot water with a number of local and state agencies..

 

[disney junky]

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This is true - but the point is that it shouldn't be necessary.. There is no justification for not allowing children to eat lunch during the course of their school day.. I've worked in a school cafeteria myself and if we had attempted to deny a child food for any reason - let alone something as insignificant as being noisy - you can bet we would have been in hot water with a number of local and state agencies..

Not to hijack the thread, but just for the sake of argument while we wait for the whole story, what would you do if you knew a student was severely diabetic but saw him eating Little Debbies for lunch? Would you have been able to restrict him?

 

[yeartolate]

YTL, Ummmmm, wrong again!!! There is nothing wrong with cafeteria food for a diabetic child. It is 'FOOD'. Now, withholding food, or giving them nothing but sweet sugary Debbie Cakes instead of food. HUGE problem.

Your attitude continues to disgust me.
I am sitting here giving thanks that it is not my sons class that you are involved with. I would have to say that your attitude and lack of knowledge about basic nutrition and health make me have serious doubts if you should be in any classroom.

Are you intentionally trying to misunderstand me? It sounds like it. First of all, repeat after me, I do not condone using food as a punishment (or even reward) but I do not believe the partial witholding of a meal deserved the anger it got on this thread. Does that make sense. Before I spewed the venom at the principal or teacher, I would find out the particulars.It sounds like the OP is trying to find out the real story - this is a good thing.

I said that I thought it would be difficult to manage a child's blood sugar with cafeteria food. It is vitally important to take exactly the amount of insulin you need for the amount of food you ingest. My point is that as a parent (heck, as a nurse!) I thought it could be very difficult to get the kind of consistency in cafeteria food you would need to keep tight control on your diabetes. As a nurse and a parent, I think it would be difficult to achieve optimal results with cafeteria food with a young child. Now if a cafeteria has constently proper food for diabetics and strictly enforces portion size, I might feel differently. Tight contol of diabetes has been found to prevent alot of very serious early and late complications of the disease - that is what I am concerned with. If that makes me a horrible person. I am .

 

[disney junky]

Are you intentionally trying to misunderstand me? It sounds like it. First of all, repeat after me, I do not condone using food as a punishment (or even reward) but I do not believe the partial witholding of a meal deserved the anger it got on this thread. Does that make sense. Before I spewed the venom at the principal or teacher, I would find out the particulars.

I said that I thought it would be difficult to manage a child's blood sugar with cafeteria food. It is vitally important to take exactly the amount of insulin you need for the amount of food you ingest. My point is that as a parent (heck, as a nurse!) I thought it could be very difficult to get the kind of consistency in cafeteria food you would need to keep tight control on your diabetes. As a nurse and a parent, I think it would be difficult to achieve optimal results with cafeteria food with a young child. Now if a cafeteria has constently proper food for diabetics and strictly enforces portion size, I might feel differently. Tight contol of diabetes has been found to prevent alot of very serious early and late complications of the disease - that is what I am concerned with. If that makes me a horrible person. I am .

I think you might be glad you aren't involved in her son's classroom as well!!

 

[Mskanga]

This is just plain wrong and for many reasons, but I would try to find out from the school exactly what happened , you would not believe the things some kids say to not get in trouble.
For many kids that is the only meal they get , others just are not morning eaters, I know my oldest is not hungry at 6:45 to eat and my youngest will take maybe two bites of a waffle at 7:45 , but at least they go to school with milk or OJ in their stomach and a waffle if I'm lucky.
Also a lot of kids have after school activities and the parents rely on them getting lunch before that , food should never be taken away under any circumstances.
I have had my share of problems with my oldest in the cafeteria in first grade , to this day the monitors still laugh about it and how my daughter perceived things , but they also 'see' how a first grader could think what she thought.
My own daughter was the one to warn her sister in first grade "not to think what she thought when she was in first grade about the cafeteria rules" , she laughs now but for a month she was a nightmare.

 

[LauraR]

Just wanted to let you all know that the vice principal left a message on my DH's answering machine saying that the 4th graders were able to get lunch. My DH was too busy at work to call back, but plans to tomorrow. We're in agreement that being sent through the lunch line in the last 5 minutes of lunch, when there is no lunch available and only snack items to buy is not "getting lunch." We just want to encourage the school to find other ways of discipline than withholding lunch.

By the way, I made sure to pack DS's lunch today!

 

[mickeysgal]

Just wanted to let you all know that the vice principal left a message on my DH's answering machine saying that the 4th graders were able to get lunch. My DH was too busy at work to call back, but plans to tomorrow. We're in agreement that being sent through the lunch line in the last 5 minutes of lunch, when there is no lunch available and only snack items to buy is not "getting lunch." We just want to encourage the school to find other ways of discipline than withholding lunch.

By the way, I made sure to pack DS's lunch today!

Good. I'm glad you're getting to the bottom of this. And I agree...there absolutely needs to be another way to discipline without having to withhold lunch or delay it such that there is nothing left and/or no time to eat. Its such a shame that you, as a parent, have to state the obvious with this school.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I hope you have better luck than I did--don't let them give you some excuse--do what I did and check with other parents of kids in your childs class--then sneak into school to see for yourself---I got lucky with sneaking in because the caf was before you got to the office--Dont let them know you're coming just go!

 

[C.Ann]

Not to hijack the thread, but just for the sake of argument while we wait for the whole story, what would you do if you knew a student was severely diabetic but saw him eating Little Debbies for lunch? Would you have been able to restrict him?

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If we were aware of the medical condition? Yes - we could restrict him/her - the same as we would be allowed to do so if a child had a peanut allergy and was requesting a PB&J sandwich.. However, the child would not be denied all food - just the food that could cause a medical problem..