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  • Silent Lunchroom for elementary kids

    http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780927/22051897.html


    SHHHHHHHHH!
    Parents criticize school's quiet lunch plan
    By BRIANNA BLAKE
    Register Staff Writer
    08/21/2003
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Lunch period at Willowbrook Elementary School in Altoona was quiet enough Wednesday to hear the crunching of potato chips and the slurping of juice through tiny straws. In the background, classical music played.

    The Southeast Polk school district is trying something new this year: silent lunch.

    Principal Robin Norris said she and her faculty decided they needed to do something to curb the noise level and to encourage children to eat their entire lunch.

    Three days into the school year, Norris said it's working - children are eating more and the staff is not dealing with discipline problems such as students calling names or talking inappropriately.

    But parents and at least one education expert said the solution to rowdy lunch hour is extreme.

    "We're not in military school here - this is public elementary school," said Michele Mohler, whose son Zachary is a first-grader at Willowbrook this year.

    "It doesn't matter what age they are, it's not fair to expect them to not socialize during lunch."

    Lynn Nielsen, professor of elementary education at University of Northern Iowa and a former elementary school principal, said that while elementary school lunchrooms tend to be pretty noisy, he doesn't recommend keeping children from talking.

    "I don't think it's typical, and I don't think we would recommend to our students that extreme of a measure," Nielsen said.

    "Lunchrooms by nature are noisy. I've never encountered one that wasn't."

    Willowbrook students were quiet and appeared to be consuming most of their food Wednesday, but some said they're not happy with the new rule.

    "It seems like we should get more talking time in lunch because if kids don't get to talk at lunch, they might have so much to say when they get back to their class that they'll get in trouble," fourth-grader Evan Fischer said.

    "I don't like it," said Max Arnett, 10.

    "I don't know why, but for some reason I just have a lot of things to say at lunch. It's the only part of the day when I get to talk."

    A notice was sent home with students Tuesday, informing parents of the program.

    "Gaining nourishment had become secondary to talking," Norris said Wednesday of the problems the school had encountered in previous years.

    She said small lunchroom quarters, poor acoustics and consistent discipline problems led to this year's experiment with silence.

    "The reasons we did it were positive. Our goal is to get kids to eat and not say things. We're learning as we go," Norris said.

    Of about a dozen Altoona parents asked about the plan, none supports the quiet lunch. Some said they felt the system punished all the children for the behavior of a few.

    Southeast Polk Superintendent Thomas Downs said he has received about 20 negative responses from parents so far.

    "It's a work in progress," said Downs, who supports Norris' effort to solve a problem. The plan is"seeing more flexibility than it's getting credit for," he said.

    Teachers at the school seem to support the quiet, said Parent-Teacher Association President and teacher Stacey Cochran.

    "It seems to be working," Cochran said. "If you have no talking in the lunchroom, the kids are going to eat more."

    Norris said that although no other schools in her district have silent lunch, there are other schools that use the plan. She declined to name them.

    Other metro school districts contacted Wednesday said they don't know of anyone who asks students to eat silently.

    "I've never heard of anything like this," Des Moines school district spokesman Klark Jessen said.
    this is rather dumb.
    Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

  • #2
    stupid

    Comment


    • #3
      Idiotic. That just means they'll be more disruptiveduring class and recess.
      Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

      Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

      Comment


      • #4
        They probably dont even have recess, no school district is more dictatorial then the West Islip Public Schools, here are some frequent crimes commited by them:

        - confiscation of cell phones and when the parent comes to pick it up they say they dont have it or the child must have lost it.
        - if caught wearing hats in school, major repercussions
        - fires teachers whose teaching styles differ from the principals
        - hires teachers and other staff members with criminal records and behivorial issues
        - engaged in corruption involving area law enforcement agencies (ex. when a crime is committed involving the school and is reported the cops are bribed or something), also probably in other forms of corruption.

        Comment


        • #5
          Hah, people chewed tobacco in school when I was in high school. Ask tw-acs.
          "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

          Comment


          • #6
            Aah yes, High school. Where jeans weren't allowed if they were ripped or had holes in them. Hates weren't allowed, bandanas as hats was added to that rule later. Shorts weren't allowed if they were more than 3 inches above the wearers kneecap.

            And after a series of fights in the school, a fine of 300.00 was placed on anyone fighting, even if someone walked up & punched you. You'd get the fine.

            I'd sure love to go through those four years again. Considering what I'm like now, compared to back then. :twisted:

            Comment


            • #7
              They don't give a damn in my school, just as long as you show up occasionaly, and don't fight or smoke out in the open.
              Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

              Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by bigross86
                They don't give a damn in my school, just as long as you show up occasionaly, and don't fight or smoke out in the open.
                My school will be in the news after the National Guard shows up to arrest all the teachers and staff on corruption and drug trafficking charges

                Comment


                • #9
                  LOL! You going to become State's witness?
                  Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                  Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by bigross86
                    LOL! You going to become State's witness?
                    Im trying to find witness, nobody will come forwards :-x for fear of retaliation, i would like to see the school security with "Chiefs Specials" vs the M1A1's of the New York Army National Guard.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Somehow I don't think they'll bring the NG im just for some teachers.
                      Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                      Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by bigross86
                        Somehow I don't think they'll bring the NG im just for some teachers.
                        some teachers are ok and open - they are the ones who are fired because they are too libril (sp), the mean, nasty, conservative, corrupt ones stay and get all the favors, also the drugs being brought ino our school are brought in by the school security whos job it is to keep the drugs out. And the one time the cops raided the place a corrupt cop in league with the principal called up the school and told them the cops were coming with a search warrant so they found no evidence. Im Wayat Erp and they are the Clayton gang, thats how i see it.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          any sugesttions as to what i should do about this?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            If your story is actually legitimate (not saying it's not), here are a few suggestions for you.

                            1. Contact a local radio station.
                            2. Contact a local TV station.
                            3. Contact the newspaper.
                            4. Contact the local sheriff's department.
                            5. Contact the mayor's office.
                            6. Contact the governor's office.
                            7. Get your parents and other concerned parents involved. Ask them to sign a petition or something, saying that they want the school thoroughly investigated.

                            There are plenty of ways to get this cracked open if it's actually happening. And I guarantee that if YOU know about it, plenty of other people do as well. If you start digging and snooping around, others will step forward and help you out.

                            Good luck. Sounds too "Shawshank Redemption"-ish to me, though.
                            I never understood "fire for effect". I thought the firing WAS the effect...

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Just whatever you do, don't go to the National Enquirer...
                              Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                              Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                              Comment

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