why doesn't MPS do open lunch? (Milwaukee: how much, school districts, taxes)

[marcus903]

I am a student at Milwaukee Public Schools. Here is my question:

Why in the doggone mind doesn't MPS do open lunch? Do they expect students to bring homemade lunches to school or eat the junk food they serve their students? Why don't they let the students go to the nearest restaurant and eat lunch there?

If they are so worried about students abusing the feature, there IS something called 'adult supervision'. Everytime we go on a field trip, an adult has to supervise us, why not do the same thing for open lunch?

[Jesse276]

Originally Posted by marcus903

I am a student at Milwaukee Public Schools. Here is my question:

Why in the doggone mind doesn't MPS do open lunch? Do they expect students to bring homemade lunches to school or eat the junk food they serve their students? Why don't they let the students go to the nearest restaurant and eat lunch there?

If they are so worried about students abusing the feature, there IS something called 'adult supervision'. Everytime we go on a field trip, an adult has to supervise us, why not do the same thing for open lunch?

Since you're advocating for a change in something, the question isn't why are they doing this. Why should they do something different? How would making this change lower costs, increase academic achievement, or make teachers'/administrators' jobs easier? If you can't articulate very good answers to my questions, nothing will change. It's a sad fact but that's the best way to overcome strong resistance to change.

ps - I wanted open lunch in high school too

[green_mariner]

Trust factor. I like the idea of open lunch. My high school never did this either. I think the thing is, teenagers are not trusted and alot of adults don't want to supervise teenagers more than they have to, so for that reason, alot of schools won't do open lunch. Lack of trust in teenagers combined with lack of motivation on the part of adults.

[marcus903]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Trust factor. I like the idea of open lunch. My high school never did this either. I think the thing is, teenagers are not trusted and alot of adults don't want to supervise teenagers more than they have to, so for that reason, alot of schools won't do open lunch. Lack of trust in teenagers combined with lack of motivation on the part of adults.

Really? School districts don't trust teenagers to go to the nearest restaurant during their lunch break because school officals are too lazy to be doing their job?

Students have to be supervised when they are in the cafeteria, classroom, or even on the playground. But school officials don't want to supervise students when they are walking to a restaurant? How illogical is that?

This is another problem with the educational system in the United States, school districts are WAY too overprotective and do not trust any of their students to go out to a freaking restaurant, even when they are in HIGH SCHOOL.

So why don't they trust their students?

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by marcus903

Really? School districts don't trust teenagers to go to the nearest restaurant during their lunch break because school officals are too lazy to be doing their job?

Students have to be supervised when they are in the cafeteria, classroom, or even on the playground. But school officials don't want to supervise students when they are walking to a restaurant? How illogical is that?

This is another problem with the educational system in the United States, school districts are WAY too overprotective and do not trust any of their students to go out to a freaking restaurant, even when they are in HIGH SCHOOL.

So why don't they trust their students?

Schools don't trust their students due to this old adage: One rotten apple spoils the bunch.

The thing is, students HAVE to be supervised. That is the idea. Since students HAVE to be supervised, it is considered a drain for adults to supervise the students any more than required. In the eyes of school officials, it isn't considered illogical because in their eyes, they aren't babysitters.

And the overprotectiveness is really about making sure a law suit isn't brought about. If someone gets hurt, and a school administrator isn't their, the school can get sued. In some cases, like bullying inside the school, that is okay. However, outside of school grounds is where problems result.

In the eyes of the school, open lunch is considered a risk.

[marcus903]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Schools don't trust their students due to this old adage: One rotten apple spoils the bunch.

The thing is, students HAVE to be supervised. That is the idea. Since students HAVE to be supervised, it is considered a drain for adults to supervise the students any more than required. In the eyes of school officials, it isn't considered illogical because in their eyes, they aren't babysitters.

And the overprotectiveness is really about making sure a law suit isn't brought about. If someone gets hurt, and a school administrator isn't their, the school can get sued. In some cases, like bullying inside the school, that is okay. However, outside of school grounds is where problems result.

In the eyes of the school, open lunch is considered a risk.

They aren't babysitters? Based on how the federal courts think that school officials are to be the student's parents, they seem to act like babysisters.

[Jesse276]

Originally Posted by marcus903

They aren't babysitters? Based on how the federal courts think that school officials are to be the student's parents, they seem to act like babysisters.

Don't shoot the messenger.

[Zembonez]

We had open lunches at my high school. We smoked a lot of pot and drank mostly. Great fun but not terribly conducive to getting much education after lunch.

Many school districts now have closed lunches. You'll probably survive.

[Concrete]

I had open lunch at my high school. This was a small town in the middle of nowhere. They sometimes would threaten to take it away because students were littering etc. Can you imagine if they let MPS students out at lunch unsupervised?

And you're not going to get school teachers/principals to supervise you. What are they going to do, follow hundreds of students each to their individual destinations? When do they get their lunch break? They want to be around you as much as you want them to supervise you.

Plus I wouldn't think it was safe. My wife used to teach at MPS. I would not be ok with her going out to lunch with those students, or even walking around in the city of Milwaukee to random places like that. Maybe Honor's students, but even then, who knows where you'll end up.

You'd have to pay someone to do it. The taxpayers are already pissed at MPS for wasting so much money, when half of the students can't read at grade level. Why on earth should my taxes pay more for students to walk around at lunch causing police headaches? Students wander the streets after school, before school, hell even during school I would see them walking around.

Jesse276 has it right. You want to change the status quo, you would need to articulate specific points and how it would increase the achievement to try to get the district out of being a DIFI (district identified for improvement). That's all the taxpayers care about. They don't care about your lunch. They think MPS is a pit where money is thrown into with zero results. You may be going to class, but a lot of students at MPS don't go or just don't give a ****. It's up to you to provide positive peer pressure for them to change.

And I don't count on the student achievement in MPS increasing in any of our lifetimes, regardless of how little or how much money is thrown at them. Until the parents and students want to change, they will not change.

It's like the poor person that wins the lottery and then is broke in 1 year. The root cause wasn't lack of money. It was poor money management. The infusion of tons of money only exacerbates the problem.