Lunch mess at Whittier
Apparently Whittier Elementary now has a 15-minute lunch and 15-minute recess (it had been a 20-minute lunch and a 20-minute recess last year). Given these narrow windows - and the time it takes kids to work through a line and get served - some of the kids who are eating the hot lunch (and this means the FRL kids) only get about five minutes of seated lunch time before being excused to recess.
If this is true, it is out of compliance with District policy and procedure (H61.01).
Concerns have fallen on deaf ears at the school. Families are meeting on Thursday evening to determine a plan of escalation and action.
Can anyone provide additional detail?
If this is true, it is out of compliance with District policy and procedure (H61.01).
Concerns have fallen on deaf ears at the school. Families are meeting on Thursday evening to determine a plan of escalation and action.
Can anyone provide additional detail?
Comments
It's been a problem at Lincoln, which has 700 kids, for a couple years. It's especially bad there this year - One lunch line for 700 kids.
Please, neighborhood schools - you will get as crowded as Lincoln APP too - so if we have problems like crowding, it's the same kind of problem you're going to have. It just hits APP school first b/c it's so big.
We all need to band together to force the district to solve this for EVERY school.
My kid says the cafeteria sign lists capacity at 223, and given 700 kids and only 3 lunches ... he does the math. It doesn't work.
Not to mention the timing doesn't work. B/c the kids going in and the kids going out have to use the same doors.
District needs to devote serious capital solutions - more lunch lines, for starters - to the crowded schools. At Lincoln they need to open up more spaces, and open up more doors in/out.
What we hear is that the "1000 instructional minutes" meant lunch and recess were cut.
I think that's bogus, frankly. If 1000 minutes is so big, add more time to the day - but even kids who aren't FRL can't skip lunch! It ruins learning for all kids!
But all they want are "parent volunteers" to help hurry the kids up.
Signed: hungrynbitter
Thirty minutes is the contracted time but I don't know what teachers do at different schools. I only know that when I was there, the school was much smaller and 30 minutes was the time frame until Linda Robinson arrived and until the District changed the bus schedule adding ten minutes to the teacher day. The forty-minute lunch which ensued was fair and legal.
Just don't know much about it now.
A retired teacher
still retired :)
This issue is widespread with at least 8 other SPS schools offering just 15-minute lunches (email me if you want to see the research we've compiled).
This trend is especially concerning for kids on the Free & Reduced Lunch (FRL) program, as this may be their only opportunity for a nutritious meal during weekdays.
To our retired teacher--first...thank you for your service! You're correct, we did have 40 minutes of combined lunch and recess until this year. It's is now 15 minutes of lunch and 15 minutes of recess. So we are again in violation of SPS policy with some of our younger kids only having 5 minutes of seated lunch time (after standing in line for hot lunch) for lunch.
This year, Whittier's second-year principal, Melissa Schweitzer, reported that her initial schedule proposal included a 40 minute allotment for lunch and recess, but that schedule was rejected by Jon Halfaker, her boss and the Executive Director of Schools - Northwest Region. It seems SPS's focus is on meeting the 1000 hours of instructional time, rather than children's basic needs and our minimum lunch time policy. The real culprit is that our school day (or year) is simply too short to meet instructional requirements AND kids' basic needs to eat, socialize and move.
The staff and parent volunteers in Whittier's lunch room are heros, trying to make the best of the time the kids have, but it's not enough to meet our kids basic needs.
We've also found that many schools still somehow have adequate lunch and recess time--even with similar schedules to Whittier. So why are some in compliance with the lunch policy and others aren't?
In the short term, parents should try to volunteer during lunch and help it go more smoothly, but we need a longer term solution that doesn't involve kids missing recess to have adequate lunch time--both are important to kids' social, physical and educational development as many studies and the American Academy of Pediatrics state, time and again.
Lastly, news media and social media outreach is already gearing up to be the cornerstone of this campaign, with a focus on health/nutritional, family and food bloggers, advocates, professionals and reporters. If you have contacts that fit the bill, or special expertise in PR/Social media and want to help us, please contact me.
We want to do this in a positive way and will be approaching all administrators, the district, board, legislators with that goal in mind. After all, I think we need to keep the well-being of the children at the heart of education policy. That is our goal, as long as we find other child advocates to help us make these necessary changes.
Please join the grassroots effort, starting this Thursday at 7pm at my home in Ballard.
Thank you for bringing this concern to this great forum!
Deb Escher
Whittier Elementary Parent of 1st and 3rd Graders
escherdeb@gmail.com
206-790-9469
Whittier =30 minutes lunch & recess
Greenwood, North Beach, W. Woodland = 40 minutes lunch & recess.
Is Mr. Halfaker not the supervisor for all of these NW elementary schools?
N by NW
I mean, has anyone ever been disciplined for ignoring the state PE minimum?
No.
So just shrug and say screw it to the 1000 minutes and give the kids lunch. That must be what the others are doing.
Signed: hungrynbitter
Jon is transitioning from the great principle he was to a company man.
Eckstein had a huge problem with this last year. 1,300 kids trying to all get their lunch in three periods. Food insecure kids we're not getting enough time to get/eat their meals. Somebody suggested the free and reduced lunch kids go first in the line, obviously, that's a horrible suggestion. As Eckstein has gone down in numbers with the opening of jams, the problem is not as accute.
Disappointed
NEmom
whittier parent
So if you follow the rules, you're penalized by less lunch and if you don't, then you're breaking the rules.
It's all just so wrong.
In the army, the guy in charge is usually required to go LAST through the chow line. The person in charge is supposed to have the least amount of time and the last food - I know teachers don't have much time either, I'm not blaming them - but the 1000 minutes of instruction people like the ed director need to come and EAT LAST and then follow the rules and see if they can work the rest of the day until 4 without losing it. No cheating with 2 pm coffee and pastry.
Whittier: challenge them to come to your lunch, eat like the last in line kid, follow all the bullhorn rules and leave ASAP and then have a parent spend the day with them and make sure they don't snack. Or give them the dreaded 3 wheat thins snack. See when they collapse at 2 and get all pissy and can't focus.
Signed: hungrynbitter
"Meal periods shall be long enough for students to eat and socialize – a minimum of 10
minutes are provided to eat breakfast and 20 minutes to eat lunch with additional time
as appropriate for standing in line"
Line time is NOT supposed to count in your 20 minutes! Please note that socializing is a human aspect of meal times that is also noted in the policy. Expecting 5-10 year olds to not talk so they can shovel food into their mouths is ridiculous.
I think I may just figure out a way to time the last kid in line and see what comes of it...
Shouldn't the superintendent - who has the responsibility to enforce policy - come down there and make them comply? Isn't that his job? Why doesn't he do his job?
As part of phase I of construction at JAMS, the lunchroom space was expanded (by expanding into spaces that previously housed a black-box theater and a computer lab).
I know there was quite a bit of thought put into how to run lunches at JAMS so that everyone has a place to sit and time to eat.
Does anyone know how it is working out so far?
- North-end Mom
Mom of 4
According to the FAQS, ***recess*** actually counts toward instructional hours, as do passing periods.
RCW 28A.150.205 defines instructional hours:
'Instructional hours' means those hours students are provided the opportunity to engage in educational activity planned by and under the direction of school district staff, as directed by the administration and board of directors of the district, inclusive of intermissions for class changes, recess, and teacher/parent-guardian conferences that are planned and scheduled by the district for the purpose of discussing students' educational needs or progress, and exclusive of time actually spent for meals.
Basic Education compliance
How are schools calculating hours? Elementary school start and end times show a 6 hr 10 min day. Doing the math -> 1000 hrs/180 days = 5 hr 35 min of instructional time each day. Is it the half days that are reducing the average number of minutes left for lunch?
fyi
-Whittier parent
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/on-japans-school-lunch-menu-a-healthy-meal-made-from-scratch/2013/01/26/5f31d208-63a2-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html
A parent
Whittier parent
Education directors work for principals and don't rock the boat. Halfaker is one of the worst but its true leadership thats needed and accountability.
Good luck on that
Let's talk about recess too. Why do kindergarteners at some schools only get one recess a day?
I've lived a couple of places in Europe and many of those countries would be aghast (especially over lunch which is considered very important).
I think this regulating down to the minute is getting a little nuts.
What is the definition of a school day?
A full-day parent-teacher conference is not considered a school day toward the required 180 days because it is implicit in the statute that all pupils must be engaged in academic and career and technical instruction. A late start, early release, or half-day used for parent-teacher conferences is considered a school day toward the required 180 days. Districts planning full-day parent teacher conferences within a 180-day school year must apply for a waiver to be in compliance with the Basic Education Act.
If Whittier wants a longer lunch they may need to eliminate the full day conferences.
fyi
-JAMSparent
wondering
Students have a basic right to safety in their school environments. If JAMS does not have a strict nut-free snack policy in place, it will be liable should a nut-induced allergy emergency arise.
I am all in favor of allowing kids to snack during the day. Many need the energy. But packages of nuts and granola bars need to be taken out of the equation of acceptable snacks during classroom and passing (locker) time.
Middle Mom
wondering
But a school does need that accompanying no nut policy and teacher/parent/kid education. It's a tragedy and accompanying lawsuit waiting to happen. Nut pieces lying around on desks or floors or in bathrooms can send some kids, including mine, to the hospital. Or worse.
Middle Mom
schools. 8:40 - 2:50 with a half-hour lunch and 15 min recess.
Given what I've seen from downtown, there's little consistency on just about anything.
Ann
Wondering if kids are coming from daycare programs which feed them adequately considering they are taking the place of breakfast for some kids. Maybe we should put some effort there?
Ann
Moldy nuts anyone?
I usually ignore bullies and trolls, and probably should in your case, but until you've had to actually call 911 and/or rush a child to the ER because he/she is covered in hives and can't breathe, you can't possibly understand the potential severity allergens like peanuts pose in a school setting.
Anaphylaxis is no joke.
- North-end Mom
-JAMSparent
Nuts can kill and do on a scary regular basis, particularly where people simply don't understand how dangerous and serious it is for about 10% of kids these days.
It is attitudes like this that put my kids lives in danger.
Yes, OMG, nuts! As unsafe a loaded gun in the classroom.
Or a drunk driver.
How would you feel about a gun in your kids hand, or forcing your kid be in the car with a drunk driver?
Nuts are DEADLY to kids with nut allergies. It simply isn't funny.
Seriously?!
If you have personal knowledge that my kid has a nut allergy - or if you have been told via school policy that students in a building/on a field trip have a nut allergy, and you disregard that information - blithely providing nuts as a snack anyhow or encouraging other families to blow off the issue...well if my kid has a medical emergency or god forbid dies because of exposure to those nuts, I will sue your a$$ and that of any other parent who couldn't be bothered to care a little bit about their fellow human.
And if an SPS school shortens a lunch period so much that students are forced to fill their pockets with granola bars or (more likely) Snickers Bars to make it through the day, and my kid gets sick because of nut residue, then the school is part of the problem and I'm going after the school too. Partly because of the nuts and partly because any school who thinks cramming an extra 15 minutes of "academics" a day into a schedule is more important than filling all kids' stomachs with nourishment so they can both *live* and *learn* deserves to be sued for the pure stupidity of its priorities.
*Furious*
Mag mom
- North-end Mom
-Arbor Heights Parent
One cafeteria keypad.
They don't even run a handwritten number sheet - the clipboard where you write your number and move on, to be typed in later - for those who just want milk.
Cuts down on milk drinking.
Signed: hungrynbitter