why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch

[Anonymous]

OP here -- a fellow parent, not a clueless wonder as someone else noted, thanks.

I think some of you missed my point. When I asked why we NEED to volunteer, I meant, why are there not enough staff to safely provide for the needs of the children during the entire school day (which includes lunch and recess). My point is, that it simply isn't/shouldn't be ok to abdicate responsibility for these kids for ONE HOUR out of the school day (30 min. lunch/30 min recess).

A child died recently in VA after an allergy attach during recess. Plenty of kids fall, get bullied, need help, etc. during these times. My issue is that there need to be professional staff attending to the children all day in my opinion. Why in the hell should this be considered some type of luxury item. Why isn't professional supervision during the entire school day a minimal standard. Sending your kid to school is mandatory, shouldn't they at least provide enough supervision all day?

And, by the way, I'm at WORK during their recess. I CAN'T go there to volunteer. I don't think that my child's safety for one hour per day should be entirely dependent on whether or not other parents have time to volunteer!

[Anonymous]

Who supervised recess and lunch at school before volunteers and aides?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- a fellow parent, not a clueless wonder as someone else noted, thanks.

I think some of you missed my point. When I asked why we NEED to volunteer, I meant, why are there not enough staff to safely provide for the needs of the children during the entire school day (which includes lunch and recess). My point is, that it simply isn't/shouldn't be ok to abdicate responsibility for these kids for ONE HOUR out of the school day (30 min. lunch/30 min recess).

A child died recently in VA after an allergy attach during recess. Plenty of kids fall, get bullied, need help, etc. during these times. My issue is that there need to be professional staff attending to the children all day in my opinion. Why in the hell should this be considered some type of luxury item. Why isn't professional supervision during the entire school day a minimal standard. Sending your kid to school is mandatory, shouldn't they at least provide enough supervision all day?

And, by the way, I'm at WORK during their recess. I CAN'T go there to volunteer. I don't think that my child's safety for one hour per day should be entirely dependent on whether or not other parents have time to volunteer!

I think people consider you clueless because you suggested that the teachers supervise the children during that time. That is not only thier lunch and work period, but it is one of the few breaks they get to even use the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- a fellow parent, not a clueless wonder as someone else noted, thanks.

I think some of you missed my point. When I asked why we NEED to volunteer, I meant, why are there not enough staff to safely provide for the needs of the children during the entire school day (which includes lunch and recess). My point is, that it simply isn't/shouldn't be ok to abdicate responsibility for these kids for ONE HOUR out of the school day (30 min. lunch/30 min recess).

A child died recently in VA after an allergy attach during recess. Plenty of kids fall, get bullied, need help, etc. during these times. My issue is that there need to be professional staff attending to the children all day in my opinion. Why in the hell should this be considered some type of luxury item. Why isn't professional supervision during the entire school day a minimal standard. Sending your kid to school is mandatory, shouldn't they at least provide enough supervision all day?

And, by the way, I'm at WORK during their recess. I CAN'T go there to volunteer. I don't think that my child's safety for one hour per day should be entirely dependent on whether or not other parents have time to volunteer!

Maybe you have a reading comprehension problem or you didn't bother to read the previous posts. There are NO staff usually available to supervise recess. The teachers are eating and their contract says that its not their duty. The principal is busy. There are NO OTHER people sitting around. Its like people criticizing the police department because it took ten minutes for an officer to get to the scene. There is not an army of police officers at the station just in case it gets busy. There are also not an army of staff at the school sitting around to supervise recess. It costs too much to hire all of these staff members that you seem to think are available.

By the way the child who died in Virginia was given a peanut candy bar in the cafeteria and died of a reaction. How could staff have prevented that?

[Anonymous]

Don't know what school this is, but at our kids' schools, there were always the "recess ladies" who were paid employees. They were not teachers, and they were paid a lot less, but what school has the situation where there is no one at all to supervise recess?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- a fellow parent, not a clueless wonder as someone else noted, thanks.

I think some of you missed my point. When I asked why we NEED to volunteer, I meant, why are there not enough staff to safely provide for the needs of the children during the entire school day (which includes lunch and recess). My point is, that it simply isn't/shouldn't be ok to abdicate responsibility for these kids for ONE HOUR out of the school day (30 min. lunch/30 min recess).

A child died recently in VA after an allergy attach during recess. Plenty of kids fall, get bullied, need help, etc. during these times. My issue is that there need to be professional staff attending to the children all day in my opinion. Why in the hell should this be considered some type of luxury item. Why isn't professional supervision during the entire school day a minimal standard. Sending your kid to school is mandatory, shouldn't they at least provide enough supervision all day?

And, by the way, I'm at WORK during their recess. I CAN'T go there to volunteer. I don't think that my child's safety for one hour per day should be entirely dependent on whether or not other parents have time to volunteer![/quote

You ARE dense!

Tell me where our systems will find the money to PAY for aides????!!!! Money is the factor.

What can't you understand?

[Anonymous]

NP here. I think OP is raising a valid issue. As for the idea that it's not the principal's job to ensure there is sufficient staffing to cover recess/lunch, I disagree. At our elem, the assistant principal has always been responsible. So at elems that don't have an assistant, wouldn't it be the principal's job, or his/her designee? More lunch supervision is needed for the younger kids, especially kindergarten, so I can see not having much coverage for the 4-5th graders. On the playground, though, that's another issue. If a child is seriously injured on the playground, the county would certainly be sued, so it only makes sense to provide sufficient coverage. At our elem, also, we hear constantly of the need for more lunch/recess supervision. I can understand that it's always nice to have more, but the tone of these requests makes it sound as though the supervision is lacking. It's a concern of mine, too, but I can't be up there frequently since I work FT, just as many parents do. I think it's something to ask Starr about. I don't think our elem had a very difficult time finding people to take those jobs, but all their hours were reduced to nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- a fellow parent, not a clueless wonder as someone else noted, thanks.

I think some of you missed my point. When I asked why we NEED to volunteer, I meant, why are there not enough staff to safely provide for the needs of the children during the entire school day (which includes lunch and recess). My point is, that it simply isn't/shouldn't be ok to abdicate responsibility for these kids for ONE HOUR out of the school day (30 min. lunch/30 min recess).

A child died recently in VA after an allergy attach during recess. Plenty of kids fall, get bullied, need help, etc. during these times. My issue is that there need to be professional staff attending to the children all day in my opinion. Why in the hell should this be considered some type of luxury item. Why isn't professional supervision during the entire school day a minimal standard. Sending your kid to school is mandatory, shouldn't they at least provide enough supervision all day?

And, by the way, I'm at WORK during their recess. I CAN'T go there to volunteer. I don't think that my child's safety for one hour per day should be entirely dependent on whether or not other parents have time to volunteer!

Maybe you have a reading comprehension problem or you didn't bother to read the previous posts. There are NO staff usually available to supervise recess. The teachers are eating and their contract says that its not their duty. The principal is busy. There are NO OTHER people sitting around. Its like people criticizing the police department because it took ten minutes for an officer to get to the scene. There is not an army of police officers at the station just in case it gets busy. There are also not an army of staff at the school sitting around to supervise recess. It costs too much to hire all of these staff members that you seem to think are available.

By the way the child who died in Virginia was given a peanut candy bar in the cafeteria and died of a reaction. How could staff have prevented that?

No reading comprehension problem hear, but, again, charming way to engage. Your analogies are way off base. The very problem is either that (as you say) 1) there are NO staff people around to supervise or 2) the teacher's/principal's contracts prohibit them from watching the children. That is the whole point

What type of kool-aid are you drinking that you think it is ok for the system to decide that kids should just be "on their own" if parents can't show up and do that part of the supervision? That makes no sense. Maybe the teacher's union can lobby for these ridiculous benefits for their teachers (including 1/2 hour - in the middle of their workday - to do planning for the next day). Really, how many of us have that in our jobs. But let's not pretend that that makes sense if the result is kids without adult supervision during that time. This seems like an issue for parents to be up in arms about. I just do not understand the defeatist sentiments of parents on this thread. Your really think this is ok? You really don't think this puts kids at risk every day? Or is it just easier to flame parents who are concerned about the lack of supervision for our kids? Maybe MCPS should spend the money that we pay in taxes for adequate staff rather than on all of the bloated central office bureaucracy baloney.


BTW - the example of the Va. child is meant to show that very serious things can happen at lunch and recess. Having trained, professional staff on watch is important and, who knows, in an emergency, might make a difference.

Have we really gotten to the point where we think it is ok to leave kids essentially unsupervised for one hour per day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I think OP is raising a valid issue. As for the idea that it's not the principal's job to ensure there is sufficient staffing to cover recess/lunch, I disagree. At our elem, the assistant principal has always been responsible. So at elems that don't have an assistant, wouldn't it be the principal's job, or his/her designee? More lunch supervision is needed for the younger kids, especially kindergarten, so I can see not having much coverage for the 4-5th graders. On the playground, though, that's another issue. If a child is seriously injured on the playground, the county would certainly be sued, so it only makes sense to provide sufficient coverage. At our elem, also, we hear constantly of the need for more lunch/recess supervision. I can understand that it's always nice to have more, but the tone of these requests makes it sound as though the supervision is lacking. It's a concern of mine, too, but I can't be up there frequently since I work FT, just as many parents do. I think it's something to ask Starr about. I don't think our elem had a very difficult time finding people to take those jobs, but all their hours were reduced to nothing.

Principals have meetings they are required to attend. So oftentimes, they are out at odd times, leaving - in most cases at the elementary level - ONE AP to run the school. Should the AP leave the school to do recess duty?

That is NOT a reasonable long-term solution.

Furthermore, any teacher forced to step in can grieve that demand and win. This isn't to say that teachers are selfish (although Lord knows that the public thinks so). It means that this is their time for lunch and/or planning. Sadly, the planning period for elementary school teachers is limited. So they need to make the most of the time given.

Allocations from central office ARE TO BE USED specifically for X, Y, and Z. So if a principal tries to use an academic intervention allocation to pay for an aide, it may not fly. So they are restricted in how many aides they can hire.

Again, put your money where your mouth is and agree to pay more taxes to support YOUR public school.

And I highly doubt, based on your post, that your school is overcrowded if your principal can remedy the problem this easily.

So until you know how the system works from the inside out, you can't begin to offer suggestions on this forum.

[Anonymous]

What area are we talking about? At my school, all of the teachers go outside with their classes at recess. We have a 50 minute planning period when the kids are in their special area classes.

[Anonymous]

Do parent volunteers receive any training?

[Anonymous]

Same thing at my school but different counties/states have different union contracts for teachers. We get 30 mins of non-duty lunch and a 50 min planning period while the kids go to specials. Other unions have one afternoon off per week for the teachers like in FCPS and in ACPS as well as no recess duty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What area are we talking about? At my school, all of the teachers go outside with their classes at recess. We have a 50 minute planning period when the kids are in their special area classes.

MoCo, I believe.

[Anonymous]

Why isn't there some minimum standard that compels a certain # of adults on duty per X number of children at lunch/recess?

The teacher's unions have negotiated plenty of "protections" for teachers, where are the negotiated "protections" for our kids compelling adult supervision during these times?

[Anonymous]

My kids go to private school where they are always cognizant of the required ratios. For school aged kids I think that is 1:15. Teachers and staff supervise recess. They can't use volunteers unless the volunteers are supervised by staff. I think this is all completely mandatory and required by the licensing regulations. They could lose their right to operate if they don't comply. Aren't public schools subject to the same rules?