Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[Henrietta23]

do vegetarians eat cheese? I thought that was off the list? heck I don't know....I eat tons of chickens..HA HA

do you eat tofu also? maybe some kind of main dish for you including that?

Vegetarians eat cheese, vegans don't. I'm not even really a vegetarian since I eat fish. I'm just not eating beef, poultry or pork unless I can get it humanely raised and processed.
Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm sure I'll find something yummy once I put my mind to it. I just have to get that Norman Rockwell print of Thanksgiving dinner with the big roasted turkey out of my head! It will be there, I just won't be eating it! : )

 

[FarmerChick]

H23

cool

so you are being careful about the quality etc. of food you purchase. smart

maybe check some local farms in the area...I am sure there are natural raised animals in the area. It is becoming more common to find these items at your local farms and such. best of luck finding a great meal!

 

[Henrietta23]

H23

cool

so you are being careful about the quality etc. of food you purchase. smart

maybe check some local farms in the area...I am sure there are natural raised animals in the area. It is becoming more common to find these items at your local farms and such. best of luck finding a great meal!

There are some and that was what we did last year. We didn't manage to get a turkey ordered this year in time. Next spring I'm hoping I can get a BYC member to raise a turkey for me and I will pay the cost of raising it, etc. My whole family would prefer that.
I'm focusing on reducing the chemicals in my family's diet right now. That seems a good place to start!

 

[Henrietta23]

Today's adventure:
Sent a letter to the principal at my son's school stating our concerns with the policy of taking away recess time as a disciplinary action. This happened to my son Friday because he was "fooling around" at lunchtime. He was given time "on the wall" at recess. When he first got in trouble at lunch he was moved to another class's table. When that class kept badgering him to go back to his own class he finally got upset and did just that. Only to find he was in much more trouble for going back without an adult's permission. He says he tried to explain but the duty teacher wouldn't listen. He had half of recess taken away from what he is telling us. Besides the fact that I don't think that particular situation was handled correctly (I would have moved him back to the second table and explained to the other students that this was his consequence for not following the cafeteria rules and to leave him alone), I am in total disagreement with taking away recess as a disciplinary action. These kids only get 15 minutes of recess per day as it is. And the students only have 1 30 minute PE class per week. That is not enough. The letter I sent focuses on that rather than the specific issue of Friday. I have yet to hear back from anyone at the school so I've been checking online for state and district policies and I've found information for our specific district that states that recess is NOT to be taken away as a disciplinary measure! I'm not necessarily anticipating a battle but I'm armed anyway. I've heard the former principal wouldn't listen to reason. Well, the new principal will or it goes to the superintendent, the Board of Ed and the newspapers. I ended the letter stating that our son was not to be put on the wall in the future and that we are looking forward to discussing alternative consequences with the administration.
Then I baked cookies for tonight's Cub Scout pack meeting. Costume and jack o'lantern contest. Woohoo!

 

[FarmerChick]

H23
reducing chemcials in the foods we eat here is what I am doing also. I hear ya!

cool you can have someone raise a turkey for you. smart...just plan ahead cause like you said orders and such have to be placed well in advance. That must mean those farms are doing well if all their birds are sold. COOL---great for a small business farm to make it!

I bet you are thrilled you wrote that letter. Get it off your chest and come up with a better solution then "time on the wall"! Can't wait to hear what they say!

 

[Henrietta23]

H23
reducing chemcials in the foods we eat here is what I am doing also. I hear ya!

cool you can have someone raise a turkey for you. smart...just plan ahead cause like you said orders and such have to be placed well in advance. That must mean those farms are doing well if all their birds are sold. COOL---great for a small business farm to make it!

I bet you are thrilled you wrote that letter. Get it off your chest and come up with a better solution then "time on the wall"! Can't wait to hear what they say!

You and me both on the school. If I don't hear today then I send of a copy of the policies I found to question whether or not those are the actual policies. And then I follow up with a call to make sure she got my letter. Then I request a sit down meeting to chat. Then it gets ugly if necessary. Not really ugly, I don't do ugly, but I take it further. NO kid should be on the wall, not just mine!
I've done some research on humanely raised meat in CT. Haven't found much that's close and most of that is preorder. Still haven't given up!

 

[FarmerChick]

I lived in Windsor CT for about 8 years. Worked at CIGNA. Great state but wow when I left a long time ago it sure was getting expensive to live there!

yea I hear ya on the "kid on the wall"---come on now. that just ain't a good punishment for kids actions. I know they need some form of discipline for their actions, but I am more of the type that "kids are kids" especially in a lunchroom situation.

yea you need to pursue it definitely if you hear nothing back. they are paid to take care of your kid, and when you want to chat about anything regarding your kid, then they need to respond to you!

again I am waiting for the answer too...feel like I wrote the letter.. HA HA HA

 

[Henrietta23]

I lived in Windsor CT for about 8 years. Worked at CIGNA. Great state but wow when I left a long time ago it sure was getting expensive to live there!

yea I hear ya on the "kid on the wall"---come on now. that just ain't a good punishment for kids actions. I know they need some form of discipline for their actions, but I am more of the type that "kids are kids" especially in a lunchroom situation.

yea you need to pursue it definitely if you hear nothing back. they are paid to take care of your kid, and when you want to chat about anything regarding your kid, then they need to respond to you!

again I am waiting for the answer too...feel like I wrote the letter.. HA HA HA

LOL! Yeah, it's expensive to live here, but somewhat better in our corner. Others will tell you we're also so well paid that it balances out. Um, right....
I just took a call from the principal of my son's school. She had spoken to the woman on duty in the cafeteria about what had happened. This woman says that Alex didn't try to explain why he had moved back to his class's table. Personally I believe that he was too intimidated by her to try. She agrees that taking away recess is not always the best way to deal with behavioral issues but they use it judiciously for lunchroom matters because it follows immediately after lunch. She did admit that the duty woman was going to take ALL of his recess away but his classroom teacher told her no, this was out of character for him, and it was reduced to 5 minutes out of 20, which sounds much more reasonable than half of 15 minutes. All in all it was a positive conversation. She did thank me for bringing the concern to her attention. It is something she plans to monitor to make sure that the consequence of being put on the wall is not overused. She ended by saying she wouldn't have even known about it if I hadn't written so I told her the only reason I knew about it was that the woman who dealt with him happened to pass us in the hallway and made a comment, not to me, but to Alex. The principal did NOT like the way that was handled at ALL! She apologized and said that was inappropriate. I don't intend to pursue that end of things. I've seen much worse in schools where I've worked. Anyway, she now knows I'll question anything I have a concern with, that I do my homework and I know she will listen and act reasonably.

 

[MorelCabin]

It is very hard to find a form of discipline at school that will make everyone happy. Being put on the wall during recess is actually one of the better alternatives, and the kids hate it...so it works. I know that recess is only 15 minutes and they don't get enough playtime in one day but that is what it takes to get that "all american overacheivement" that everyone is pushing thier kids toward.
As far as getting in trouble for playing around during lunch, the problem is that they only have 20 minutes to eat...they don't have time to play if they want to get outdoors. The teachers on monitor duty usually have to get outdoors when the bell rings too and that is difficult when there are stragglers who played thier way through lunch.
That is why your son got put on the wall. I am one of the lunch duty helpers at the school...it is very difficult to get a school ful of kids doing what they are supposed to be doing so that everyone gets fair and safe time outdoors.

 

[Henrietta23]

It is very hard to find a form of discipline at school that will make everyone happy. Being put on the wall during recess is actually one of the better alternatives, and the kids hate it...so it works. I know that recess is only 15 minutes and they don't get enough playtime in one day but that is what it takes to get that "all american overacheivement" that everyone is pushing thier kids toward.
As far as getting in trouble for playing around during lunch, the problem is that they only have 20 minutes to eat...they don't have time to play if they want to get outdoors. The teachers on monitor duty usually have to get outdoors when the bell rings too and that is difficult when there are stragglers who played thier way through lunch.
That is why your son got put on the wall. I am one of the lunch duty helpers at the school...it is very difficult to get a school ful of kids doing what they are supposed to be doing so that everyone gets fair and safe time outdoors.

Believe me I know what it's like. I've done several hundred lunch duties in my career! I know how little time there is for both lunch and recess and our school is considered "at risk" through NCLB guidelines so every spare minute is devoted to academics. I believe that moving him to another table for being silly, which is what the principal confirmed was the problem, was reasonable. I also don't have a problem with him being placed on the wall for 5 minutes of a 20 minute recess for extreme silliness. Had he been put on the wall for the ENTIRE recess like the duty teacher was going to originally, I'd have a big problem. Recess is not strictly about playing and fun. We also have to be concerned over children's health and the chance to be active is part of that. The movement and activity help kids learn. Losing recess time is not acceptable on a regular basis and the principal agrees with me on this. Especially if the child's behavior doesn't change, indicating that losing recess isn't working as a discipline tool. I don't think that's going to be the case with my son.
Losing an entire recess period also violates our district's policy which I found online. I know it wouldn't be easy to find an alternative to losing some recess time. But I won't tolerate him losing excessive amounts of it. So I'm glad I wrote the letter in a calm manner, admitting to only having my son's side of the story. He did embellish some on the length of time he was there. And I did state in the letter that both my DH and I have enough lunch duty experience to know what it's like in there.
Oh and they have 30 minutes to eat, more or less, which is way too much for my particular child who lives on air! LOL!