Another Thing That Has Changed Since I was in School

[Ben]

When I was in elementary school, swapping food items from your lunch was pretty much an institution, and nobody died.  I guess I can kinda sorta see the school's point of view for maybe being afraid of a lawsuit if, for instance, some kid gives another kid peanuts and that kid turns out to be allergic, but it sure takes the fun out of things. Detention seems a little overboard, especially for what appears to be a "first offense".

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/19/california-boy-gets-detention-for-sharing-school-prepared-lunch-with-another/

[zxcvbob]

Notice that the other kid didn't have an allergy, this was all about "what if he has an allergy!?"

The punishment did not fit the crime; detention isn't much of a punishment, but *no* punishment was appropriate.  Just throw the sandwich burrito away and say don't do that again.

I hope the kid learned the right lesson from this (that the principal is a petty dictator AND an idiot)

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I think this had more stuff going on. The cheese sandwich means the kids lunch acct was low on funds. His buddy helped him out. That offended some pinhead. Probably afraid that some parent will complain or just a control freak.
If i was either of those kids dad we would be having some meetings.
And if my kid was helping a buddy out i would be right proud of them


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[Boomhauer]

If you look in the dictionary under "Full Retard" you will find "Public School" listed as an example.

[Triphammer]

In the district my grandson is in, the cheese sandwich is the lunch given a child when their lunch account is behind but not enough in arrears to be refused a lunch. Seems to me that the principal had a reaction to the student receiving a hot lunch rather than the one he "deserved".


I see C&SD beat me to it but, same thought.

[zxcvbob]

I wonder if the kid's parents could make things uncomfortable for the school by claiming religious persecution?  (Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats)  Probably not, since that's a Christian thing.  They'd have better luck claiming Communism.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Yea  and thats even worse than "zomg allergies"
At 13 if my kid wants to help a friend out the only person can tell her no is me or the wife. Its not their kid or their money


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[zxcvbob]

In Minnesota, a couple of months ago the newspapers and TV stations were all in a lather about the cheese sandwich thing.  They never quite called it "racist", but they did say giving a kid a sandwich when they couldn't pay for a hot meal was cruel and unusual punishment.  (it sounds like a kindness to me) Supposedly it is stigmatizing.

ETA: I wonder why they all got worked-up about it at the same time?

[zxcvbob]

Yea  and thats even worse than "zomg allergies"
At 13 if my kid wants to help a friend out the only person can tell her no is me or the wife. Its not their kid or their money

In their minds, it is their kid.

[Doggy Daddy]

In their minds, it is their kid.

Yeah, I think that's why they call us "those loco parents".   

[HankB]

And they took the food away from the kid who originally had only a sandwich?

Kids today are wimps - by age 13, NO school bureaucrat would have successfully taken FOOD away from a student when I was in school - there WOULD have been a fight, and lawsuits WOULD have been filed against the teacher or admin, who would have had to justify forcibly taking FOOD from the mouths of babes to a jury.

And the kid who helped out a friend would have simply refused detention.

This would have raised the profile of the incident to a point school officials would not have found comfortable at all.

[zxcvbob]

And they took the food away from the kid who originally had only a sandwich?

Kids today are wimps - by age 13, NO school bureaucrat would have successfully taken FOOD away from a student when I was in school - there WOULD have been a fight, and lawsuits WOULD have been filed against the teacher or admin, who would have had to justify forcibly taking FOOD from the mouths of babes to a jury.

And the kid who helped out a friend would have simply refused detention.

This would have raised the profile of the incident to a point school officials would not have found comfortable at all.

Sorry, I don't believe the part about the lawsuits.  Replace that with threat of violence against the principal by kid's dad, and you've got a good story.

OTOH, even a really stupid admin wouldn't have been THAT stupid back in the day, so maybe it doesn't matter...

[HankB]

Sorry, I don't believe the part about the lawsuits.  Replace that with threat of violence against the principal by kid's dad, and you've got a good story.

OTOH, even a really stupid admin wouldn't have been THAT stupid back in the day, so maybe it doesn't matter...

Here's a story from "back in the day"

Scenario: Decades ago, 8th grade, Catholic grammar school in Chicago, a few weeks before graduation. I was 13.

The lay teachers (no nuns taught 8th grade) would frequently pick a boy to go to a nearby restaurant and make a take-out "lunch run" for the faculty - give the kid some money and an order, and he would dutifully bring back the food and any change . . . and then go back to his classroom for his cold sandwich.

One day it was my turn . . . so I did as I was told, and upon my return met the teacher in the hallway and handed over the teachers' order and the (correct) change. Teacher then asks "What's in THAT bag?" Told him "I used my own money to buy myself a burger and fries."

"DID I TELL YOU YOU COULD DO THAT?"

"I don't need your permission to spend my own money!"

"Well, you can't do that, it's unfair to the other students, so hand it over."

"No!"

"Hank, I said hand it over - NOW!"

"You may get away with stealing pencils, combs, and erasers (different story) but you are NOT stealing my food!"

With that, I turned away from him and headed back to the classroom, with the teacher calling after me to get back there. I ignored his calls and went back to the room - I wanted witnesses. I was fully expecting his hand to fall on my shoulder - at which point I was going to whirl and punch him in the nose just as hard as I could. I was big for my age - he was bigger - so I had no illusions about winning a fight, but I knew I'd get one good punch in.

He didn't follow, or lay a hand on me. I think he realized that if he did, the situation would balloon out of his control, and HE would be out of a job for sending a kid off-campus during the school day.

And . . . I'm quite sure he didn't want to deal with my Dad.

[dogmush]

I wonder if the admin could be reported to CPS for stealing food from a student. Don't they have to come out and do an annoying interview for every report?  What do you suppose the rest of the kids would say about an admin A-holey enough to steal a burrito?

When I was in school you were expected to know, and avoid, your own damn allergies by second grade.  I had kids in my class that were allergic to stuff, and one diabetic.  They all knew to politely decline things that might kill them without trying to stasi the lunches of everyone else.  It's not that damn hard to teach a kid not to commit suicide by PB&J.


I'm so glad I'm not a parent.  I would be spending every waking moment trying to destroy the school district around here.

[Boomhauer]

I wonder if the admin could be reported to CPS for stealing food from a student. Don't they have to come out and do an annoying interview for every report?  What do you suppose the rest of the kids would say about an admin A-holey enough to steal a burrito?

When I was in school you were expected to know, and avoid, your own damn allergies by second grade.  I had kids in my class that were allergic to stuff, and one diabetic.  They all knew to politely decline things that might kill them without trying to stasi the lunches of everyone else.  It's not that damn hard to teach a kid not to commit suicide by PB&J.


I'm so glad I'm not a parent.  I would be spending every waking moment trying to destroy the school district around here.

I like the way you think


The "OMG ALLERGIES!" bullshit started just after I graduated from high school (which was in 2006). We certainly didn't have the freaking out in the '90s and early 2000s when I was in elementary and middle school, and everything was fine.

[zxcvbob]

okay, maybe they were that stupid.   

but the lawsuit thing would be from a different era.

[Ben]

When I was in school you were expected to know, and avoid, your own damn allergies by second grade.  I had kids in my class that were allergic to stuff, and one diabetic.  They all knew to politely decline things that might kill them without trying to stasi the lunches of everyone else.  It's not that damn hard to teach a kid not to commit suicide by PB&J.

While I 100% agree with the above, the only reason I would give a school district leeway for the "allergy clause" (versus the "a-hole clause", whic happears to be the case here) is that there seem to be a good number of incidents in the news of kids having to be rushed to the doctor or whatever. I think this falls on the parents regarding training, but these days, they could easily sue the school district and win. Again, I'm one of the bigger haters of "zero tolerance", but unfortunately, our litigious society helps to create some of these situations.

[dogmush]

Lose a your first kid, and maybe you'll teach the second to avoid allergens.

Seriously: at SOME point they will need to keep themselves safe. On things that can kill them, starting that lesson sooner is better, yes?

While I get your point about lawsuits, it's just another example of parents abdicating responsibility,  and I have no patience with those parents. Raise your own MF-ing kid. It is not the rest of the villages problem to conform to your brat's idiosyncrasies.

At this point in society's swing I'm not even really willing to be inconvenienced by other's "needs". I wasn't this bitter until I had to deal with some of the 18yo "adults" this crap produces.

[Ben]

Lose a your first kid, and maybe you'll teach the second to avoid allergens.

Seriously: at SOME point they will need to keep themselves safe. On things that can kill them, starting that lesson sooner is better, yes?

While I get your point about lawsuits, it's just another example of parents abdicating responsibility,  and I have no patience with those parents. Raise your own MF-ing kid. It is not the rest of the villages problem to conform to your brat's idiosyncrasies.

At this point in society's swing I'm not even really willing to be inconvenienced by other's "needs". I wasn't this bitter until I had to deal with some of the 18yo "adults" this crap produces.

I'm 100% in agreement with this too. I just can't completely blame the school system for being afraid of a bullshit lawsuit (again, separate from the zero tolerance crap), I guess for the same reason that I have uninsured motorist coverage on my insurance, and umbrella coverage for the person that falls down within 100 yards of my residence and blames me. Even though I absolutely shouldn't have to carry that  coverage.

[wmenorr67]

I remember in 6th grade myself and a group of friends would sit near where the other students had to walk by to throw away their trash and put away their trays.  We would take the untouched/uneaten food.  Teachers started having a fit.  Parents came back and said the food would be wasted otherwise and had no problem with us taking the food.

Wound up being a big issue about being unsanitary and other BS.  Compromise was reached where we took the food off of our siblings trays which was still 6 or 7 at least.

This would have been close to 35 years ago.

[zxcvbob]

I think CSD was on the right track with the cheese sandwich, and the "allergies" thing was just a smokescreen.  Here's what someone said on Calguns that makes a lot of sense:

I'll wager that "food safety" is just the cover story, and that the real reason is they want each child to be individually enrolled in the school lunch program so they get more funding. Sharing food would allow some children to get lunch without being enrolled in the program.

And *that's* why the good Samaritan had to be punished; he was interfering with the school's profit center.

(full disclosure: I like cheese sandwiches)

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Kid read that story had a very strong opinion. I told her if it ever comes up let the school know my feelings. And the kindest part was "lawyer up boys"


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[grampster]

When I was in grade school and high school, we walked home for lunch.  Then back to school.

[Hawkmoon]

While I 100% agree with the above, the only reason I would give a school district leeway for the "allergy clause" (versus the "a-hole clause", whic happears to be the case here) is that there seem to be a good number of incidents in the news of kids having to be rushed to the doctor or whatever. I think this falls on the parents regarding training, but these days, they could easily sue the school district and win. Again, I'm one of the bigger haters of "zero tolerance", but unfortunately, our litigious society helps to create some of these situations.

Yeah, BUT ...

Suppose the recipient had not been in arrears on his cafeteria account. What would have happened? Do you really think the school cafeteria keeps a file on each student's allergies, and makes special meals for them? No -- they just make food that's generally calculated not to set off the common allergies, like peanut butter sandwiches.

So had the recipient not been in arrears, instead of getting a cheese sandwich he would have gotten a burrito just like the one his classmate gave him. So WTF is the big deal here?

I have food allergies. I've known what they are since I was maybe four or five years old. I know (and knew) what I can't (couldn't) eat. This is just more public school zero tolerance bovine excrement.

Sheesh.

[230RN]

"We have a policy that prohibits students from exchanging meals. Of course if students are concerned about other students not having enough to eat we would definitely want to consider that, but because of safety and liability we cannot allow students to actually exchange meals," Tom Barnett, the Superintendent of the Trinity Alps Unified School District, told the website.

Possibly another instance of how ridiculous the precept that"ignorance of the law is no excuse" is.

Is a 13-yo supposed to be aware of all the intricacies of school "policies?"

Now, who knows, perhaps the school had signs plastered all over saying not to share food, but on the basis of the article, I don't think this is a "detentionable offense" unless the kid got smart-assy about it.

Perhaps merely an advisement of  "the law" would have been more appropriate.

Probably afraid that some parent will complain or just a control freak.

I'll vote for the latter.

Terry