Lunch Procedures

Supervision Ratios

The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that teachers, teacher aides, yard aides and volunteers who supervise students receive training in the above safety practices and in supervisory techniques which will help them to forestall problems and resolve conflicts. When determining the ratio of playground supervisors to students, the Superintendent or designee shall consider the size of the playground area, the number of blind spots that are not immediately visible, the age and gender of the students, and the general nature of their behavior.

Source: CCUSD Board Policies AR 5142

FAILURE TO PROPERLY SUPERVISE STUDENTS CAN LEAD TO EXPENSIVE LITIGATIONPublic Schools Must Proactively Establish Policies & Procedures to Monitor Student Safety on Campus

Olvera v. Pajaro Valley Unified School District, (Cal. Ct. App. 2007), 

"Further, the ratio of adults to students was 1:45, which is within the generally accepted ratio for elementary school supervision." 

Luis M. v. Hayward Unified School District, (Cal. App. Ct. 2007)

Recommendation: "In the end, both of these cases stand for the proposition that public schools, including charter schools, must have policies and procedures actively in place and followed, in order to avoid claims of negligence when students are injured on campus due to fights or accidents. Public schools must make reasonable efforts to supervise students throughout the school day, and, at a minimum, should station school officials in hallways during passing times. And public schools should engage in training with its employees, contractors, or vendors about proper student supervision."

From:  https://www.ymclegal.com Young, Minney, & Corr, the Charter School Law Firm 

First Item to Consider:

Do you have a contract that specifies a 30 minute duty-free lunch?  If so, you do not have to open up at all, and if you choose to open up, then you can set whatever limits you want because it's your lunch time.

Here's How I do lunches:

The school has a Recreation Aide that blocks students from going past the lunch area so they are the gatekeeper who gives out the passes.  I print as many as I am willing to take in the library, and limit the total to how many seats you have available.  The students turn in their passes to a bin by the door when they enter and then I give them back to the office to use again the next day or have a student run them back out to reuse the next lunch if I'm doing more than one lunch.  Also, if a student is being a problem, I make them leave.  Being in the library is a privilege.

It also makes a difference depending on many lunches you have.  We have 3 at my school.  When I am teaching, I will be closed for 2 lunches because 4th period I am teaching during someone's lunchtime.  The office will call and ask which lunches I am open each day.  If no one is scheduled for classes, I can be open to all 3 lunches and take my lunch before or after lunch.  Students cannot bring their lunch unless they are in book club.  The book club has special passes that they keep so they always have the same pass. 

Another thing that has worked is to have a sign that says Library Full and lock the door because some students find their way to the library without a pass.  Tell students they can not Leave until the bell rings, otherwise more people come in whenever the door opens.  That cuts down on the constant going in and out.  Students must also be seated, no wandering around.  Check out books in the last 5 minutes only.  

Remember that you are entitled to a duty-free lunch, so you have the right to close for one lunch if you need a break.  Especially if you are teaching all day.  I stopped opening up lunchtime at one of my schools because it only ended up with me cleaning up their messes and monitoring their behavior all period.  When they started throwing carrots, that was it!  Plus, they kept the passes and I had to print more every day.  Now I only open up for book clubs.  This school has 2 lunches and one I am teaching, and the other I take my duty-free lunch.  If you are giving up your duty-free lunch, then you should only do it for the students you love.  Form a Library Club or book club so you can control who you allow to come in.  

The following were ideas posted to CALIBK12, October 2017 by Yvonne Weinstein:

1. Open seating area:

• We gave each of the tables and places where students sit a number, and posted small signs with the numbers on the center of the tables. We then created "tickets" (laminated) for the number of seats at each table. For example if there were 4 places at Table 1, we created 4 tickets with the number 1 on them. Ditto for all of the tables and seating areas.

• We put all of the laminated tickets in a gift bag and each student entering the library who was there to study put their hand in the bag and drew a number. That number was the table where the student was to sit that day.

• The numbered ticket was immediately dropped into a basket to be used the next lunch period. This meant that all students. including those who arrived in a group, were randomly placed at different tables to sit and study/read. Things were immediately much quieter. The first few days there was much gnashing of teeth because students wanted to sit together to socialize, but we stuck with our procedure or the student could choose to leave "Choose a number or choose to leave" was our mantra when we began this. After the first few days, the students got used to the procedure and knew to expect this when they were going to the library.

2. Puzzle area

• We created a sign in sheet with the maximum number of students who were allowed at the puzzle station. If students arrived to do puzzles, instead of drawing a number for a seating area, students signed in for puzzes. When the maximum number of slots was filled, no one else could work on the puzzles that day.

3. Legos/ Little Bits/ sewing/ tinkering station/sewing area/ duct tape creation/ friendship bracelets areas- 

• Ditto as for the puzzle area.