http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780927/22051897.html
this is rather dumb.
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.
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.
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