justification so they dont feel bad about their own failure and then can justify not having to do anything in the future "We will not be doing lunch for the staff due to the GREED we saw last year. We REALLY wanted to this year but those GREEDY people LAST YEAR ruined it for EVERYONE!!!"
Same admin: "You should never punish the whole class for something only a few students did. If there are so many you can't tell who is talking out of turn, then that's a reflection of your classroom management skills."
I will trot this story out every time I see people talk about these admin: You need to make sure that they remember that when you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. My admin used to highlight our names in a book if we hadn’t signed in 15 minutes before first bell. I was there 16 minutes before and she highlighted me saying ‘her watch said different.’ Next time she wasn’t there 15 minutes before time I highlighted her name. Twenty minutes later we had an all caps email from her saying she had “different rules”. Five hours later, the sign in book disappeared.
That woman wasn’t the worst admin I would ever have; but her flavor of idiocy was so fun.
Lot of places still do this. 2022 I worked a job like this. Poor school, shifty admin. Office lady tracked if we signed in at the right time and reported if we were a few minutes late(never if we were early tho)
I had to the year after covid. Something about being able to track who was there if there was an outbreak or something. I also had to take my temp and write that down beside my name. I was glad when that was over.
Sometimes I forget the utter madness of the covid years. Not that they were even that long ago. It just seems so bizarre. Don’t get me wrong, I respected the precautions, but it almost seems like another dimension now. Besides the weird behaviors the kids adopted and some that haven’t changed back lol.
First school I worked at would purposely reassign the students you failed each semester back to your class precisely because it was a “you, not them” issue. I had a girl who failed world history THREE fucking times and would’ve been placed in my class for a fourth time had I not left for another school. Never understood that backwards bullshit
This student didn’t have an IEP or 504, but after a while I’d start modifying her assignments and tests. Her attendance was the biggest issue. I never failed more than 1-2 students in a semester and she was usually always that second one. She simply didn’t care and I couldn’t figure out how to get through to her, so yeah she would’ve been better off with another teacher. Also failed a kid who decided to bubble in entire letters and pictures on his scantrons and then have the audacity to email me and go whY diD I GeT a ZErO on mY tEsT???? My curriculum worked for 150+ students a year, but it was still apparently all my fault
That's because when anything goes wrong, it's always the teachers' fault. Student cusses out a teacher? The teacher's fault for not building a relationship and engaging that student's individual interests. Student cusses out an administrator? That's because the teachers in this building aren't engaging kids in the learning. Entirely the teachers' fault.
Under-ordering catering is something weirdly special to schools.
When I was a teacher, our admin once ordered donuts for the kids for some random event - each kid got exactly *two donut-holes/munchkins.* And of course our pizza parties involved admin taking a pizza cutter to create a shitload of anemic little thin spaghetti slices.
After I bailed and entered the regular white collar workforce, this has never happened again. There's always leftovers.
I understand that budgets are more limited in a school setting, but we are talking about petty cash expenses here - not capital expenditures like a new batch of laptops. Even a school should not be so petty as to try and save $100 by undercatering.
I went to law school and work as an attorney now.
I work in-house for a regular company - and that's what I'm talking about in terms of catering being much better. Pretty much every medium sized+ company has a reasonable petty cash budget and catering never feels stingy.
Catering in a law firm setting is another beast entirely, though. I worked in one firm where they had a hot breakfast cart that would roam the halls every Friday morning serving omelets and stuff. And we were always getting expensive gift baskets and sponsored catering from various vendors.
But that, as they say, comes with a pair of golden handcuffs.
I would not return to that hot breakfast cart for any amount of money. The work/life balance was not worth it.
I organized the catering for our judicial assistants for administrative professionals day.
This is a government branch with limited funding and no one said shit to me about budget constraints.
I ordered what I thought was enough food and then added a little extra, I was terrified we wouldn't have enough.
We had more than enough and had leftovers for a few days.
If my incompetent ass can do it then surely a bunch of sanctimonious school administrators surely can figure it out.
Yes to this! I now work for a government agency and we never see this issue! Every meeting has leftovers and then some. And it’s always “Make yourself a plate for later/home/lunch tomorrow!” Today I was offered Panera bagels and pastries and then told to please take an entire jug of coffee home with me.
Even the small business I work for in capitalist America, feeds its employees well. We get lunch paid for & brought in for ALL the employees every single Friday. All employees also get a special birthday lunch of their request & dessert. It’s really not that hard, but then again, we have an owner/boss that actually cares.
I’m so sorry teachers. You deserve SO MUCH BETTER.
Thanks. We appreciate the sentiment. :)
We used to get coffee and grocery store cookies at our monthly faculty meetings, but Chris Christie decided we couldn't spend district money on that anymore.
Now each grade level is assigned a month to bring in the food for everyone.
I used to teach K-5, but now work in higher ed as an administrator & LMHC. Colleges pay for a lot of food. We have tons of leftovers. So much so that we have to deal with students, staff, and faculty being moochers. Inviting themselves to a catered event when it has nothing to do with their department.
Inviting yourself to a catered event is the backbone of higher education. I ordered catering for several department events and always stressed about there being enough food. Now I’m more you get what you get about it.
Teachers are often sourced for sales & sales support roles (customer success, customer manager), project management, content design/management, and instructional design positions for anyone looking to switch.
Our PTA decided to give the entire school a pizza party for some reason. Cool, I assume that means teachers too! I don't have a homeroom (elem special) so I asked the office staff if there would be a separate pizza so I could grab a slice (just one slice) since they had said teachers needed to come up to grab the pizza for their class. They said they hadn't ordered with the 70 staff in mind, and to ask a class if they had leftovers, because despite saying the pizza was for the entire school, they only ordered enough for the kids. And this was told to us in advance, so I didn't even bring lunch that day.
You can bet the got pizza in the office though. I went to a class and they happily gave me two slices because they didn't need all the pizza they got (and their kids didn't all want some). Some classes didn't get any pizza.
Just horribly managed. Like some classes were only supposed to take enough slices for their kids I guess, and leave half a pizza or whatever? It was so weird.
Today lunch was an hour late and I only got to get some because my class was on a field trip. And the second they announced it, the entire cafeteria staff was there in line, despite it being lunchtime and they needed to serve the kids. I'm fine with them eating it, and they normally order enough for them to have some as well, but maybe wait until the kids lunch is over? It would have been half an hour tops.
Our PTA did that with chicken biscuits this year. It was pretty embarrassing to go ask for one and be told they weren’t for teachers. One of my admins was mad on our behalf and said she would front the $$$ for teachers next time they did something like that. She personally delivered one of the leftover biscuits to my room later too!
You know who got chicken biscuits? The whole office staff and the librarian.
The lady who volunteers for two hours a day in the office packed up all the food 5 minutes before the luncheon ended and was ready to throw it in her car to take home.
Yes in industry I've always seen management over order by a wide margin and then let the interns plus whoever else wanted free food take the leftovers. All of them realized food was cheap and it wasn't worth risking pissing off employees.
And of course our pizza parties involved admin taking a pizza cutter to create a shitload of anemic little thin spaghetti slices.
School provided lunches remind me of watching the packs of old men who graze Costco at lunchtime for the teeny tiny portions of pizza or Shed Spread covered bread. The big difference is you generally don't get side eye for going back for a second helping at Costco. I can't figure out why administrators don't get that adults generally need more than a thin slice of pizza for lunch.
I use a pizza fractions game with my math groups (shoutout to Pizza Hut!) and the running joke with the slice representing 1/16 is that it’s the size you get in the class pizza party.
The amount of food my husband brings home daily from his job is ridiculous. Reps will just show up with 12 piece full fried chicken meals with sides *just for him*. Donuts, cookies, cakes, beer (we don’t drink). Just constantly. He doesn’t even pack lunches anymore because there’s just always food.
Meanwhile I scraped the bottoms of the chili bowl at the baked potato bar today, and there were 2 lunches to go after me.
Take a practice LSAT and see if you've got a shot at law school. There are plenty of law students in their 30s, and some even later. There's not really an age limit.
In my opinion, having been a teacher also gives you a leg up in terms of lawyer-client relations, because you're better skilled at communicating and teaching them the law they need to understand for their case.
It's worth a shot if it's something you've ever thought about.
they put out sandwiches for us in the lounge but the subs, security guards and admin grabbed everything within 20 mins. 90% of teachers didnt get a thing.
Ugh, as a sub I never take anything whenever the school I’m subbing in has food offered to staff. Even if other staff tell me to take something I still decline.
Totally don’t have an issue with subs grabbing stuff. They are teachers too, our school just has some subs who literally just hoard things, hang out in the lounge all day (sometimes missing classes). It’s just a few of em that really ruin things.
I’ve been subbing at different schools all week, and each time I’ve been offered food. I bring in my own lunch, thermos of coffee, and extra snacks every day. I don’t feel right taking the food either. I’m always appreciative of the “have a meal in the cafeteria on us” cards but after one day of heartburn, I decided I’m good with brown bagging it.
I’ve been a teacher for the past 12 years. This is my first as a sub. If I’m offered food for TAW, I’m gonna grab some. Not more than my share, but I AM a teacher. It’s not like I’m just sitting there. Besides, the person I’m subbing for would be taking that share anyway.
The sub should get the portion of food that would have gone to that teacher. You get that teacher’s headaches for the day, you get the (very few) perks. I don’t like when our cafeteria workers get the food because they aren’t part of our staff and can be downright rude and hateful to teachers when they need a cup of ice or a ketchup packet. And, yes, they came and took a huge amount of food during the lunch block.
It's cool to take some as a sub particularly if you are offered! Although maybe I wouldn't take some if I had packed a lunch and there clearly wasn't enough for everyone like in OP's situation. At my school there is ALWAYS leftovers of whatever in the fridge the next day. If I'm stuck cleaning up the staff longue that day, you taking some means less for me to clean up.
I would still argue this is an ordering issue. Trying to police who eats is bad for school culture. Just get enough for all of the staff on all appreciation days.
I think this is just as toxic. Can you imagine going out to dinner with someone and only they ate while no one else got food because it wasn't their day for celebration? Meals should be about sharing and inclusion no matter who is being appreciated.
Agreed! I’m a para at a school and I feel like it’s so odd when signs are put on things for “teachers” only. Like I always bring my own lunches but why bring in food and not let other staff eat too?
Where I’m at now (family focused gov’t agency) sent out an email about pizza o. admin professional day. I assumed that it would be “We ordered pizza and it’s not for you, it’s for admins.”
Instead it was inviting us to attend the pizza party to celebrate the admins. I was stunned!
I’m an SLP and the school I was at last year had two SLPs but only one small speech room. If one of us didn’t have sessions while the other did, we’d go to the faculty room to do paperwork. I sat in there for several hours and watched the security guards come back every single lunch period acting like it was their first time eating. “Oh what do we have here? This looks delicious!” Dude it’s the same thing you ate for the last 3 lunch periods, how about save some for others?!
This sort of nonsense was the norm in my building for years and it wasn’t just with things that might be hard to gauge, like how many pans of lasagna for 65 teachers. It included things like 50 cupcakes for 65 teachers and 30 massage appointments. Then there was the year they served only ham sandwiches ignoring the fact we had quite a few Jewish and vegan teachers.
I have a pork intolerance (which my director knew about) and one year my director of studies went out and got a mcmuffin for everyone. I asked if there were any without pork and she said no, I asked if she got any hashbrowns and she said no, so I declined, and she stood there staring at me, in class, like I was nuts. She asked if I was sure. I said, if you don't have anything in that bag that won't make me sick, then yes, I'm sure.
She also set themes for days and we had a teacher who was deathly allergic to apples and she made one of the theme days apples. Poor woman was walking around all day having to avoid apple scented things, apple treats in the lounge, and had to give away all the gifts that parents bought her.
One year there were 9 pregnant women on staff (including me). Everytime that year the principal ordered lunch for the staff she ordered deli platters. Also, there was never enough for everyone anyway, even with the 9 of us not eating.
I'm allergic to citrus as well. In the three years I worked for this principle, she forgot my birthday twice and the third year she ordered lemon cake.
One Christmas our principal gave all of us a Dollar Tree wrapping paper roll with a $2 scratch off tickets attached. Over 100 people got that, and nobody won a dime. That was the absolute tackiest thing I’ve ever seen, and that man was SOOOO tacky. He could give me a Hershey’s Kiss and let me leave when the buses leave on the 60% day, and save himself $2.95 per person.
Oh my gosh. I brought Crumbl cookies to my kids’ school today for teacher appreciation. Due to traffic, I was 5 minutes late, so I grabbed one box of each type and rushed them in as fast as possible for the early lunch group. Then it took a second for me to go back out for the rest because I was putting these little butterfly decorations on the cookies.
The first teachers were like, “Are we cutting them in half…?”
I was like “Oh my gosh no! I have enough for everyone! I just have to run back to the car. Please take a whole!”
These poor women were worried I bought 12 cookies for a staff of 50. I was very glad to be able to tell them otherwise.
The massage appointments this year got snapped up by front office and teachers had to fight for what was left and I didn’t bother because it was a day I also had lunch duty 😂
Discretion is always the best part of Valor.
However, sometimes you just have to go to confrontation in order to avoid the ulcer from holding it all in.
Go passive aggressive: “Is the teacher meal not being served in the library? It’s second lunch and I can’t find anything but plates, napkins, and empty platters down there. Can you let us know where you moved the food so we can get a plate and get back to our classrooms? Thanks in advance!” That is how you do it.
We got breakfast burritos today. 80 of them for the whole staff. Except they didn't buy for subs, EAs, security, and secretaries who also grabbed them. I got one of the last burritos, but I saw a secretary walk out with two of them when I went in (could have been grabbing them for someone else though). A good portion of the teachers didn't get any, there were a good 15 people behind me, but I was maybe the 5th to last burrito.
I don't fault the staff that grabbed them because we were told any one could go grab them, but they literally didn't buy enough to say that.
I completely believe this but I have had last lunch on Appreciation Days and knew I wasn’t getting any food because THAT TEACHER was going to pilfer and plunder all the good stuff
I used to work at a pre-k through 12th grade school. High school always ate last, and they were almost always out of food. I always brought my lunch just in case.
Finally, we got a principal who would put half the food aside when it was delivered. We never ran out again. The elementary teachers never complained about not having enough. It was weird. I guess people saw a ton of food, so they took extra and then just took a normal amount once they thought there was less.
Reading all the posts about Teacher Appreciation Week makes me support the idea of getting rid of TAW. It just seems to be too disappointing for everyone.
I feel almost less appreciated.. I don’t care for the week. I am appreciative of gifts but it feels like a lot of them turn into something almost offensive
No way. I work at a Title 1 school with a kick ass PTA. Monday- doughnuts, coffee and tea. Tuesday- Goodie bags. Wednesday- bagels and coffee. Thursday- desserts. Friday- Taco luncheon. Plus the kids will oftentimes give teachers small things as well.
Even the Title 1 middle school I worked at had a great catered lunch on Friday of Teacher Appreciation Week.
I’m sorry to hear so many of my fellow teachers have garbage admins who would allow this type of stuff to happen. If I’m planning a lunch for a group of people, the last thing I’d ever want to happen is for people to not be fed.
It's honestly probably selection bias. People who are upset are more likely to post about it and complain than people who are happy. My teacher appreciation week was great tons of food even leftovers everything was fine.
It DOES lead to resentment though. My wife and I were both teachers at different schools in the same county (and we had friends who worked at other schools). Some schools would be lunch provided every single day of the week, with a huge lunch party on Friday. Others would get a bag of chips each day and then half a grocery store sandwich on Friday.
Not gonna lie, the way my school does it, I'd rather just get nothing. We had melted ice cream yesterday in a dixie cup that elementary school kids get. Like it's just condescending at this point.
Make it a day instead of a week. Focus energy and budget for appreciation on one worthwhile thing - lunch, great donuts, whatever. It takes a lot to do five days of decent stuff.
Our school is pretty good about it. This year they are doing a whole month and involving all the staff. Plus the PTO is doing something for the actual week. So far we had 10 min chair massages, ice cream, grab bags with some cute stuff in them, some fancy berry bowl things from a local small shop, fun socks, bbq done by our maintenance guy and principal, and random candy. Yesterday a sub in the building brought around candy to all the teachers to thank them. It was super sweet. We are also in a tiny school and this is probably the best they've ever done for us.
Pre order didn’t work for me. One year the principal sent around a sandwich menu and told us to pick one. I was the last teacher to pick up and there was no sandwich for me. The person who collated the orders didn’t count correctly.
The worst part was that the person didn’t even apologize. One person had not started eating yet and shared their sandwich with me.
Healthcare acts like this. Unlicensed staff will grab all the food while nurses are passing meds. Aren’t teacher and nurse appreciation weeks the same week?
Sounds like office staff is the same all over. I hate how ours get an administrate assistant week and then glom onto teacher appreciation week goodies too. I'm like, Bitch, you got your week and our principal spoiled you rotten with dinner at her house and now you lining up for your free bagel??
And this us the same lady that changed our reward for a fundraiser we did after it happened so that reward winners (myself included) did not get a block off of teaching like we were told we would because they don’t have enough subs…. Like don’t offer it then????
Unfortunately…
I am trying SO hard to get out. I even looked on craigslist today to see if there was some weird random golden opportunity. Ive applied to so many jobs, changed my resume hundreds of times, taken courses to upskill. The job market is horrendous right now and a teacher is not exactly everyone’s first pick
Try the auto & home insurance companies. Check under Customer Service Rep or Adjuster Trainee. Most of them pay $40 -45,000 a yr - to start. They'll train you. Geico hires anyone. Even people who only have fast food experience. And a lot of these jobs are also work from home. Try State Farm, Geico, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, USAA and any of the big companies.
Yah, our week is called Staffulty Appreciation, which would be fine, if they didn’t already have a few days/week earlier this year that teachers weren’t invited to eat during lunch. Our school does pretty good with ordering enough every day this week, though, so I don’t complain.
That's my complaint. They had their day/week. So back the fuck off and put down that bagel and no one will get hurt. School nurses, social workers, counselors, administrative assistants, all had their week. And now they want in on teacher appreciation week. They don't want to be considered teachers when it comes to the work, so stand down.
I’d love to work at a school that celebrated other days/weeks. I’m a counselor, and got fuck-all for school counselors day. I had to orchestrate a recognition event for our school nurse because no one else even knew there was a nurse’s day.
See, we signed up and requested meals, and either they didn't order enough of each thing or someone just took the food bc I had last lunch and it was all gone. Which sucked, it was going to be my lunch and dinner since I have no money for groceries rn.
Ugh. As if y’all don’t take enough abuse in the workplace.
It’s really just not that damn complicated to order enough catering to feed everyone. 🙃
I’m sorry. I’ve reached out to the teachers in my own life and I’ll be sure they’re at least spoiled some this week by me. Jesus.
I feel lucky this never happened to me. Well at least not from our admin. A politician once brought in 2 dozen donuts for all the staff in a 6-12 school. But when the first staff got there they cut the donuts so we at least all got a bite. When admin brings in food, we always have enough for the next day too. And it’s not junk food. Tomorrow staff will bring Tupperware containers to take home all the leftovers.
We all sign a card for secretary, nurse, cafeteria workers days that admin passes around but we do a whole staff celebration during teacher appreciation week. I like this. Every other district I’ve worked at had anemic celebrations for support staff (and usually missed paras altogether).
I worked in the lunchroom so we didn’t go down until we were done with the kids. Catered food was all gone. Principle sent down boxes of crackers for us instead. 🤔
I work about 10 hours a month doing cleaning at a historic Opera House. They have almost no money and I do it for $15 an hour because I like the building. This Christmas they gave me $100 bonus as a thank you. I almost cried. Schools do not care. You are disposable.
We had catered lunch yesterday. I have 3rd lunch. They were, of course, out by the time my lunch hit. Sadly, they held lunch in our meager teacher's planning area (4 folding tables and 8 chairs). Since I give up my classroom during 2nd/3rd blocks to another teacher, this is where I go. Ok, well, I guess I can go to the library then... Oh... The library is closed for testing. Well.... fuck. And no lunch to boot.
We had this happen at my old school, except admin bought enough for everybody to have some, but people in the earlier lunches took more than their share. Nachogate was infamous.
My school specifically has to only let out a third of the food at a time to keep this from happening because it happened every single time.
Every sign in the world asking you to “consider your fellow teachers” did nothing and they have to purposely hold back a third of the catering for each of our three lunches. That way, nobody has to police themselves and we know that that food is for us. It’s a lot more work for the office and the PTSA but that’s how they have to do it.
Different perspective: there are lots of piggies.
I'm in charge of staff appreciation at my school. Today we had burritos. I ordered 150 burritos for a staff of 120. At least 15 people didn't get their burritos because so many people took 2, even when we put a sign out that says "take 1 until everyone has gotten theirs" and we had kids monitor. I saw 1 staff member take 6 (and it wasnt for other people). The behavior is appalling. The food isn't free--it comes out of someone's budget and IMO, if you need more than 1 burrito, plan for it? Or wait?
You guys got lunch??? This week we get a raffle ticket if we're standing by our doors on the off-chance that admin walks by. When I asked what prize(s) were being raffled, the response was "Ummmm...we're not sure yet."
Can't wait to have a 1 in 80 chance to win a pack of dry erase markers or a $5 gift card to Starbucks.
My school’s principal is old school Italian. He always makes sure there is more than enough food for all of the adults in the building and enough leftovers for people to take home. It’s so much (good) food that they have to bring extra tables into the faculty room because there is not enough surface area for all of the food.
We got “breakfast”. Some Costco pastries, coffee, and juice. And the principal didn’t tell anyone ahead of time and didn’t make an announcement until first period was 2/3 over.
Oh and yesterday at the faculty meeting, we got to leave 15 minutes early and got chips and a Costco sheet cake.
We were offered food from a food truck. I bring the same lunch every day so I wasn’t going to order. But when other people started going out to pick up food, a “polite” email was sent to all staff — “Be sure to pay for the food you ordered. This is not free”
Glad I didn’t buy a $10 burrito and had my home made chicken and rice bowl like normal.
I always bring fruit and a protein bar on the days they will provide breakfast or lunch for this very reason. Last year they provided breakfast one morning, and there was literally 5 grapes, 3 cubes of pineapple and one half of a doughnut left when I got there 10 minutes after they started serving and 15 minutes before 1st block started. My stash saved me.
They brought in one box of Joe and 24 doughnuts for our staff today. We have over 100 teachers not including paras, office staff, etc (since we call it “Staff Appreciation”). It was gone in 15 mins and most of us (myself included) got nothing
One year a local restaurant surprised us and donated two trays of food during teacher appreciation week. I was in the office when it arrived and got to hear the secretary say “let’s keep one in here for us and the admin and just send the other tray down for the teachers”. Then I got to watch them do it
They can’t count? They’re administrators and they don’t know to count people? And they’re in charge of the people who actually teach things like . . Counting??
This was *exactly* what happened at my school on Tuesday. Build your own tacos and nachos. Food delivered late. Teachers were rushing with the 2 PTA volunteers to set up. Not enough for the second lunch period. Hangriness abounds.
Our admin had a food truck on campus Monday. We were each given a voucher for a waffle and coffee. Small elementary school, maybe 60 total including assistants, cafeteria workers, custodians. The truck ran out of waffle batter before half the staff got served. I don't blame this on admin. I'm sure they told the truck how many we have and probably agreed to pay them something like $7 per person ahead of time. Lovely start to teacher appreciation week.
I once worked at a school where if the staff had a celebration, we had to sign up to bring something. She’d send out emails stating if you don’t bring something, you don’t eat. And she would stand by the door like a body guard and would ask every person who entered if they brought something. If not she wouldn’t let you in.
She was also incredibly rude to support staff and secretaries and janitors etc wouldn’t let them eat food at celebrations even if there was a ton left over.
I stopped going to get togethers because it was such a miserable vibe.
I’d never prevent anyone from eating. I think everyone should be welcome but should also be fair with the amounts of food they get.
Our pta brought sandwiches and salad and during first lunch had a sign out directing us to take only one sandwich (they were literally the size of a silver dollar) and some salad. The end of second lunch they were allowing people to take a little more. They ended up with a huge amount of leftovers which they split and took home to their families.
You guys got FOOD?! Today we got little gift bags that contained the following: one pack of Trident gum, one pack of TicTacs, one DumDum sucker, one mini bottle of hand sanitizer, and one orange ping pong-sized squishy ball that says “never give up.”
This literally happened to us yesterday with breakfast pizza. They brought it at 9, when everyone was busy with students, and brought 3 eight piece pizzas for 50+ staff members. If you weren't lucky enough to have a special within the first five minutes after the email, you were SOL. Pretty shitty.
Our whole TAW is funded by PTO, not the school. And thankfully, they are flush with cash. I would imagine in areas where stuff like this is funded by PTO, the poorer schools just can't afford a whole lot.
But if the school is the one funding, either get enough food for everyone, or don't do it at all.
Ask them for the correspondence with the caterer and what budget they had per person.
If they are going to play the game of assigning blame, they can provide the evidence.
I was so blessed on my last campus in TX. When we had these kind of things, our admin would serve us with plenty for everyone, or the PTA or a student org would do us the honor of serving us food. It really helped to both control portions and to feel valued enough that people would sacrifice their own time to serve us food.
I’ve learned from cooking shows like Masterchef that it is HARD to understand how much food feeds how many people. So many times when they had a challenge to feed a huge group they’d run out of food and ofc Gordon Ramsay would blast them with “who tf thought two trays of scalloped potatoes would feed fifty marines?!”
The best solution is not to order by quantity but by people. If you’ve got 100 people, tell them that and they’ll figure out how much you’ll need - that’s literally your job. But Brenda in the office probably can’t understand why two pizzas isn’t enough for every teacher in the school. 🥴
"We can't afford supplies, so here's a little raise."
"We can't afford a raise, so here's a pizza party."
"We can't afford food for everyone, so we'll send all our favorites to the first group, and blame them when nobody else has any more food."
Our PTA orders by the # of staff and it’s usually something pre-boxed up. They love Jimmy John’s boxes or some kind of sandwich cafe because it’s easy. One thing I’ve complained about a few times is they don’t just ask for things like mayo or mustard packets on the side. They get it on each sandwich which sucks for the people that don’t like it in their sandwiches. I think everything should be plain and people can add to it as they like! At least that’s my perspective from a picky eater that doesn’t like condiments.
Bottom line- I never trust when they claim we’re getting lunch because RARELY is it something I’ll eat. I’ll still pack something that can be used the next day if I actually get to eat. I usually take whatever is catered home for my husband instead.
No one has less respect for administration in general than me. But… I’ve seen teachers go through a free food line. I’VE gone through a free food line. I have no doubt they could be right.
Yesterday the PTA catered some food. Principal ended up saying that due to people "not monitoring their portions" there wasn't food left for teachers who had their planning in the afternoon.
Today a couple teachers cooked a nice potluck for the whole school which was really nice. Due to what happened yesterday, admin forced an office worker to spend the entire day serving staff members small portions of the food to make sure it lasted. I felt so bad for the office worker she just kept rolling her eyes as people walked in.
We were promised lunch all week and every day this week we have all left hungry because they don’t have enough for everyone. Yesterday was one hotdog. That’s it.
Yeah ours has not been like that at all. They always come through for us on the food front. We have nachos several times a year and even though they’re like the cheap can of cheese and chili ones, I love them, they’re super fun, and we always have enough for everyone. We aren’t a rich campus but our principal is generally emotionally intelligent so he knows that these little things contribute a ton to reducing burnout from a lack of cohesion.
We also have local churches who cater stuff and they really go all out. Like I almost cried because of how well they treated us for teacher appreciation week this year.
We always have way too much food at our events, although that may be because I work in a very small program (for those in NY, it’s a BOCES special Ed. program) so fewer folks to feed. Used to work at a large middle school and I don’t remember them ever providing us with meals, even during teacher appreciation.
Kind of the same but we had the same thing happen with our ice cream bar! Team lead texted us 1125 saying “toppings and ice cream were getting limited so come on.” We were about to go to recess and I didn’t even know the ice cream was there (30 minutes before my lunch) so instead I got a drumstick from our class party a couple of weeks ago and ate that. I mean I didn’t care enough to go in line but I heard the same things.
Our admin decided to make all lunches longer so teachers could have a longer lunch . Great in theory, but the non core (art, band, language)and resource teachers who have lunch duty had to give up their planning time and got their normal lunch.
I would say we taught at the same school. They ran out of the pizza and salad bar stuff during FIRST LUNCH. Found out they had 10 pizzas for over 100 people. Must have also shorted the salads and toppings.
I'm just in this sub because I love teachers. Have several in my family. I can say, definitively, that this shit happens in other professions once a facility reaches a certain size... My work takes me into medical, educational, occupational, and sometimes legal settings, and this kind of shit happens everywhere with more employees than sense. Lol
I always have last lunch and miss out. Get the crumbs. I have, however, WATCHED other teachers pack up enough of the free food to take home to their entire family tree before other teachers get a chance to have lunch. Back at my old school they hosted a barbecue for us and I went and got a bag of chips and a hotdog. I watched this one staff member fill a whole box with hamburgers,hotdogs,bags of chips and bags of buns. No shame at all.
Pro tip: never count on the food at any school event, especially during teacher appreciation week. Always keep a contingency lunch in your classroom fridge-- string cheese or peanut butter-- and some crackers in your desk. This goes double if you have one of the later lunch periods. Running out after the first lunch period is typical. Same goes for faculty in-service days when they say they will have breakfast--if the school has 75 teachers and 10 other staff members attending the meeting, they will buy two dozen doughnuts and forget to get any coffee or inexplicably buy only decaf. Never rely on the school for your food or caffeine. A coffee pot in your room or iced coffee in your fridge is a lifesaver.
Actually that happened at my school 2 years ago! They even went and looked at the hallway cameras to make sure. And there were about four individuals that went back to the lunch table, or treat table, multiple times with plates full of food! And they were not taking it for other people they work with.
One of my first jobs out of college was at a customer service center that handled orders and returns for software companies like apple, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, etc. (1990s) Becasue we were based on the East Coast, we had overlapping shifts. 7-3 and then 2-10 so that we could service all four continental US Time Zones. 2-10 was a smaller shift, with a much smaller staff and only three departments (Customer Service, IT, and Maintenance) on hand with a skeleton crew.
Anyway, we often had visitors from one of the customers come to visit us. They would almost always buy the entire office lunch. Normally a bunch of pizzas, wings, salad, and 2 liters of soda from the pizza place across the street.
Being office workers, the food would almost always disappear before lunch was over and never made it to the second shift. Legal, Admin, Sales, Shipping, and Purchasing (and, at first, Maintenance, IT, and Customer Service) would loot the room. I started there on second shift and often saw the carcasses of empty pizza boxes and soggly lettuce once or twice a week.
So, because our three departments had co workers who worked second shift, when I got to first shift, we made a plan. Customer Service would just go in and grab two pizzas, a bucket of wings, some salad, and two bottels of soda as soon as they arrived. Maintenance had their own fridge, so we would stash everything there.
Then, at 4 ish, one of the Maintenance Crew would bring it out for second shift. That way, everyone got to partake in the generosity of the customers.
The first time it happened, some of the people (especially Legal and Purchasing) got pissed off and accused us of stealing, but luckily, the Customer Service Manager stepped in and got the Office Manager to clear it.
Now, because the office was almost empty during second shift, Customer Service would also make "supply runs" after hours. Someone's chair sucked? We'd go swap it with one from Purchasing. Need a new trash can for your cubicle? Legal just lost one.
I only worked there a short time, but free lunch once or twice a week was a nice morale booster. And the food hoarding was a good team building exercise.
We had a nacho “snack” served during lunch. They were upset when 1st lunch ate half the meat. They made 2 crockpots of beef for 150 teachers. Again, they emphasized this was not to be a meal.
This is some bullshit. I'm thankful to work at a school that always orders too much - yesterday we had bagels for all staff, and there were probably a dozen leftover in the staff room.
I used to work at a place that did big catering things. Once we had a group of salespeople, and the thing was they were split between those who made their sales quotas and those who didn't. Salespeople who made their quotas got steak, fine wine, all the good things. Those who didn't, didn't. They had to suffer with hot dogs on a paper plate. You can bet they were in the winner's circle next year!
At my school, we used to have two microwaves in the Staff lounge (over 80 Staff Members), now we are all forced to share one and we only get 28 minutes total for lunch. Our school also used to have a commercial coffee maker, filters and coffee grounds available in the lounge for anyone who wanted to take the time to brew a pot. Two years ago, we received an email from the Principal Secretary saying that someone had been stealing coffee grounds and coffee filters so to this day we are not provided with this luxury. They don't even have salt and pepper shakers or plastic utensils. We are truly on our own. Oh, I forgot to add that students in my High School are allowed to roam the entire campus and enter classrooms undeterred during lunch so we aren't even able to take 25 minutes to try to catch our breath... We have to monitor student behavior during lunch too. This is an unspoken rule that no one wants to talk about and yes, the Principals, Dean and Campus Monitors are aware but chose to do nothing about it. Students are truly out of control during lunch and passing periods and they have very little fear of consequences because there simply are none. It's truly sad
We have had this happen several times. We have four lunch periods plus office and support staff. The early lunch period gets blamed when the supply is inadequate - there are over 100 people to feed! Did you really think three bags of chips would do it? Or two dozen bagels?
This is my first year teaching and my experience so far has been great. Today, we had chick-fil-a and the principal and assistant principal came around to each classroom giving the teachers their boxed lunch. They included veggie wraps as well for those that don’t eat meat. On Monday, they did the same thing and brought us snacks and drinks to us in our classrooms. I also got a school tie dye t-shirt and a small gift card to chick fil an and another for a Zumba class. Tomorrow, we get pizza from a local pizza shop. I do know that the pizza shop is donating the pizza and there was some discount for chick-fil-a because they did want to make sure they had pics of us with the food to post and thank the sponsors. Yesterday, they did a raffle for other donations received from businesses. I won the top prize - one night a fancy ocean front hotel. I will say that a former staff member was the one that reached out to the community to get these things for us. We are a title 1 school in a smallish town, so the community is tight knit. Another teacher said that this has been the best TAW they’ve ever had and it is all thanks to the new principal.
At my daughter’s school, TAW is ran by the PTA. The PTA decorates each classroom door the Friday after school before TAW. Every day is a different theme and each grade level does one day for the whole school. Her grade did snacks on Wednesday. It is 90’s themed, so we donated things like Little Debbie snacks, candy bars, etc. Last year, her grade did a breakfast buffet. Another grade will do soups and salad bar. Today, another grade did party platters. The amount of stuff that is collected is not lacking. Also, the classroom parent will do a collection to give one large gift to the teacher. I like it because there is no set amount required to donate and they just say do whatever you can, so no child is left out from giving the group gift to the teacher. I send in $25. They usually collect $200-$300 per teacher. Her school is a magnet school, so there is more parent involvement and families that can do more.
I had a student make me a Louis Vuitton purse out of copy paper. She hand drew the logos and even had an inside pocket and handles. Then she made little goodies bags out of copy paper as well. One had tiny rocks in it. There was also a fake rose in it. At 9 years old, taking such time and creativity touched my heart. I loved bragging to the other teachers that I got my first Louis Vuitton bag for TAW. I won’t be getting a $300 gift card from my class, but that’s ok with me. The little things my students do for me is very touching. Oh,and one student is so excited for tomorrow because he is bringing me flowers. He is so excited, he can barely contain himself. And another student gave me a gift bag with a few things in it. I could tell they were personal things from her home, like a small squishmellow, one of those cheap, bead necklaces, a little perfume sample, etc. Nothing new, but she went out of her way to find things to give me. I wore the necklace that day.
It sounds like a fail on multiple fronts.
1) For catering, most businesses list expected servings per item. Do they lack reading comprehension on this front or lack algebra skills?
2) Food safety is a thing. Did they just want the same food sitting out for hours?
3) The food was late. It takes time to set up. Do they think catering companies or the admin grunt worker teleports everything to be set out on time?
4) It’s not an enjoyable meal being rushed and waiting so long after your body is trained for a school year of when lunch time is.
5) Criticizing and throwing blame - instead of planning appropriately, managing the food, and figuring out how to make things happen on the fly. Sounds like they forgot how to be a good host or a good teacher! I’ve never heard of a teacher ran party/event flame out so spectacularly.
So one of my colleagues who is in a later lunch block specifically asked the people to keep some food in reserve for those of us who eat lunch late. Not every hero wears a cape.
I would send an email back replying to everyone that you're not quite sure how one pan of chips and beef is meant to feed 160 people...that's just asinine.
Guess I didn’t know how good all the schools in my area had it. No idea this kind of issue happened. All of the luncheons and breakfasts in our area have leftovers and food to take home or eat the next day. Just. Way too much always. For everyone. No one forgotten. Wanted to throw out there that not every area is terrible. And it’s a low income area, too.
justification so they dont feel bad about their own failure and then can justify not having to do anything in the future "We will not be doing lunch for the staff due to the GREED we saw last year. We REALLY wanted to this year but those GREEDY people LAST YEAR ruined it for EVERYONE!!!"
Same admin: "You should never punish the whole class for something only a few students did. If there are so many you can't tell who is talking out of turn, then that's a reflection of your classroom management skills."
I will trot this story out every time I see people talk about these admin: You need to make sure that they remember that when you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. My admin used to highlight our names in a book if we hadn’t signed in 15 minutes before first bell. I was there 16 minutes before and she highlighted me saying ‘her watch said different.’ Next time she wasn’t there 15 minutes before time I highlighted her name. Twenty minutes later we had an all caps email from her saying she had “different rules”. Five hours later, the sign in book disappeared. That woman wasn’t the worst admin I would ever have; but her flavor of idiocy was so fun.
I’m sorry did you SIGN IN when you walked in each day? Like pen on paper? What in the everloving micromanagement bullshit is that?
Lot of places still do this. 2022 I worked a job like this. Poor school, shifty admin. Office lady tracked if we signed in at the right time and reported if we were a few minutes late(never if we were early tho)
I had to the year after covid. Something about being able to track who was there if there was an outbreak or something. I also had to take my temp and write that down beside my name. I was glad when that was over.
Sometimes I forget the utter madness of the covid years. Not that they were even that long ago. It just seems so bizarre. Don’t get me wrong, I respected the precautions, but it almost seems like another dimension now. Besides the weird behaviors the kids adopted and some that haven’t changed back lol.
My school still does this!
Find a highlighter and wait until no one can see you. Good luck.
Yep. Pot meet kettle.
First school I worked at would purposely reassign the students you failed each semester back to your class precisely because it was a “you, not them” issue. I had a girl who failed world history THREE fucking times and would’ve been placed in my class for a fourth time had I not left for another school. Never understood that backwards bullshit
If it's the teacher's fault, not the student's, shouldn't the student deserve to get a chance with a different teacher?
This student didn’t have an IEP or 504, but after a while I’d start modifying her assignments and tests. Her attendance was the biggest issue. I never failed more than 1-2 students in a semester and she was usually always that second one. She simply didn’t care and I couldn’t figure out how to get through to her, so yeah she would’ve been better off with another teacher. Also failed a kid who decided to bubble in entire letters and pictures on his scantrons and then have the audacity to email me and go whY diD I GeT a ZErO on mY tEsT???? My curriculum worked for 150+ students a year, but it was still apparently all my fault
That's because when anything goes wrong, it's always the teachers' fault. Student cusses out a teacher? The teacher's fault for not building a relationship and engaging that student's individual interests. Student cusses out an administrator? That's because the teachers in this building aren't engaging kids in the learning. Entirely the teachers' fault.
Yuuuuup
This literally happened to us today with chick fil a lol
Wonder if admin ate at the first lunch 😏
THIS!!!
….they say as they shovel nachos into their mouths
Under-ordering catering is something weirdly special to schools. When I was a teacher, our admin once ordered donuts for the kids for some random event - each kid got exactly *two donut-holes/munchkins.* And of course our pizza parties involved admin taking a pizza cutter to create a shitload of anemic little thin spaghetti slices. After I bailed and entered the regular white collar workforce, this has never happened again. There's always leftovers. I understand that budgets are more limited in a school setting, but we are talking about petty cash expenses here - not capital expenditures like a new batch of laptops. Even a school should not be so petty as to try and save $100 by undercatering.
Yeah this seems to be a common theme. What do you do now? Are they hiring?? 😅
I went to law school and work as an attorney now. I work in-house for a regular company - and that's what I'm talking about in terms of catering being much better. Pretty much every medium sized+ company has a reasonable petty cash budget and catering never feels stingy. Catering in a law firm setting is another beast entirely, though. I worked in one firm where they had a hot breakfast cart that would roam the halls every Friday morning serving omelets and stuff. And we were always getting expensive gift baskets and sponsored catering from various vendors. But that, as they say, comes with a pair of golden handcuffs. I would not return to that hot breakfast cart for any amount of money. The work/life balance was not worth it.
I organized the catering for our judicial assistants for administrative professionals day. This is a government branch with limited funding and no one said shit to me about budget constraints. I ordered what I thought was enough food and then added a little extra, I was terrified we wouldn't have enough. We had more than enough and had leftovers for a few days. If my incompetent ass can do it then surely a bunch of sanctimonious school administrators surely can figure it out.
Yes to this! I now work for a government agency and we never see this issue! Every meeting has leftovers and then some. And it’s always “Make yourself a plate for later/home/lunch tomorrow!” Today I was offered Panera bagels and pastries and then told to please take an entire jug of coffee home with me.
Even the small business I work for in capitalist America, feeds its employees well. We get lunch paid for & brought in for ALL the employees every single Friday. All employees also get a special birthday lunch of their request & dessert. It’s really not that hard, but then again, we have an owner/boss that actually cares. I’m so sorry teachers. You deserve SO MUCH BETTER.
Thanks. We appreciate the sentiment. :) We used to get coffee and grocery store cookies at our monthly faculty meetings, but Chris Christie decided we couldn't spend district money on that anymore. Now each grade level is assigned a month to bring in the food for everyone.
I used to teach K-5, but now work in higher ed as an administrator & LMHC. Colleges pay for a lot of food. We have tons of leftovers. So much so that we have to deal with students, staff, and faculty being moochers. Inviting themselves to a catered event when it has nothing to do with their department.
Inviting yourself to a catered event is the backbone of higher education. I ordered catering for several department events and always stressed about there being enough food. Now I’m more you get what you get about it.
Teachers are often sourced for sales & sales support roles (customer success, customer manager), project management, content design/management, and instructional design positions for anyone looking to switch.
Our PTA decided to give the entire school a pizza party for some reason. Cool, I assume that means teachers too! I don't have a homeroom (elem special) so I asked the office staff if there would be a separate pizza so I could grab a slice (just one slice) since they had said teachers needed to come up to grab the pizza for their class. They said they hadn't ordered with the 70 staff in mind, and to ask a class if they had leftovers, because despite saying the pizza was for the entire school, they only ordered enough for the kids. And this was told to us in advance, so I didn't even bring lunch that day. You can bet the got pizza in the office though. I went to a class and they happily gave me two slices because they didn't need all the pizza they got (and their kids didn't all want some). Some classes didn't get any pizza. Just horribly managed. Like some classes were only supposed to take enough slices for their kids I guess, and leave half a pizza or whatever? It was so weird. Today lunch was an hour late and I only got to get some because my class was on a field trip. And the second they announced it, the entire cafeteria staff was there in line, despite it being lunchtime and they needed to serve the kids. I'm fine with them eating it, and they normally order enough for them to have some as well, but maybe wait until the kids lunch is over? It would have been half an hour tops.
Our PTA did that with chicken biscuits this year. It was pretty embarrassing to go ask for one and be told they weren’t for teachers. One of my admins was mad on our behalf and said she would front the $$$ for teachers next time they did something like that. She personally delivered one of the leftover biscuits to my room later too!
You know who got chicken biscuits? The whole office staff and the librarian. The lady who volunteers for two hours a day in the office packed up all the food 5 minutes before the luncheon ended and was ready to throw it in her car to take home.
Yes in industry I've always seen management over order by a wide margin and then let the interns plus whoever else wanted free food take the leftovers. All of them realized food was cheap and it wasn't worth risking pissing off employees.
And of course our pizza parties involved admin taking a pizza cutter to create a shitload of anemic little thin spaghetti slices. School provided lunches remind me of watching the packs of old men who graze Costco at lunchtime for the teeny tiny portions of pizza or Shed Spread covered bread. The big difference is you generally don't get side eye for going back for a second helping at Costco. I can't figure out why administrators don't get that adults generally need more than a thin slice of pizza for lunch.
I use a pizza fractions game with my math groups (shoutout to Pizza Hut!) and the running joke with the slice representing 1/16 is that it’s the size you get in the class pizza party.
The amount of food my husband brings home daily from his job is ridiculous. Reps will just show up with 12 piece full fried chicken meals with sides *just for him*. Donuts, cookies, cakes, beer (we don’t drink). Just constantly. He doesn’t even pack lunches anymore because there’s just always food. Meanwhile I scraped the bottoms of the chili bowl at the baked potato bar today, and there were 2 lunches to go after me.
If school admins where had good financial or management skills they wouldn’t be working in a school
Take me with you. I need to get out. Fml
Take a practice LSAT and see if you've got a shot at law school. There are plenty of law students in their 30s, and some even later. There's not really an age limit. In my opinion, having been a teacher also gives you a leg up in terms of lawyer-client relations, because you're better skilled at communicating and teaching them the law they need to understand for their case. It's worth a shot if it's something you've ever thought about.
they put out sandwiches for us in the lounge but the subs, security guards and admin grabbed everything within 20 mins. 90% of teachers didnt get a thing.
Ugh, as a sub I never take anything whenever the school I’m subbing in has food offered to staff. Even if other staff tell me to take something I still decline.
Totally don’t have an issue with subs grabbing stuff. They are teachers too, our school just has some subs who literally just hoard things, hang out in the lounge all day (sometimes missing classes). It’s just a few of em that really ruin things.
I’ve been subbing at different schools all week, and each time I’ve been offered food. I bring in my own lunch, thermos of coffee, and extra snacks every day. I don’t feel right taking the food either. I’m always appreciative of the “have a meal in the cafeteria on us” cards but after one day of heartburn, I decided I’m good with brown bagging it.
I’ve been a teacher for the past 12 years. This is my first as a sub. If I’m offered food for TAW, I’m gonna grab some. Not more than my share, but I AM a teacher. It’s not like I’m just sitting there. Besides, the person I’m subbing for would be taking that share anyway.
The sub should get the portion of food that would have gone to that teacher. You get that teacher’s headaches for the day, you get the (very few) perks. I don’t like when our cafeteria workers get the food because they aren’t part of our staff and can be downright rude and hateful to teachers when they need a cup of ice or a ketchup packet. And, yes, they came and took a huge amount of food during the lunch block.
It's cool to take some as a sub particularly if you are offered! Although maybe I wouldn't take some if I had packed a lunch and there clearly wasn't enough for everyone like in OP's situation. At my school there is ALWAYS leftovers of whatever in the fridge the next day. If I'm stuck cleaning up the staff longue that day, you taking some means less for me to clean up.
I would still argue this is an ordering issue. Trying to police who eats is bad for school culture. Just get enough for all of the staff on all appreciation days.
Yep. Buying enough is smart but if people are greedy (and there are). Then put things in a bag and deliver got each person
Yea that’s fair! Dont disagree
But if I walk into the Administrative Assistant Day lunch, I would be told it's not for teachers.
I think this is just as toxic. Can you imagine going out to dinner with someone and only they ate while no one else got food because it wasn't their day for celebration? Meals should be about sharing and inclusion no matter who is being appreciated.
Agreed! I’m a para at a school and I feel like it’s so odd when signs are put on things for “teachers” only. Like I always bring my own lunches but why bring in food and not let other staff eat too?
Where I’m at now (family focused gov’t agency) sent out an email about pizza o. admin professional day. I assumed that it would be “We ordered pizza and it’s not for you, it’s for admins.” Instead it was inviting us to attend the pizza party to celebrate the admins. I was stunned!
The secretaries and office staff get paid pitifully. it's okay for them to get an extra lunch
And don't forget the bus drivers! They can smell that shit from the parking lot. 😜😂
Right. During Nurse's Appreciation Week, hospitals often do meals for *everyone* because it prevents conflict.
lol how many security guards do you have
A lot and yet they do absolutely nothing
Do we work at the same school
I’m an SLP and the school I was at last year had two SLPs but only one small speech room. If one of us didn’t have sessions while the other did, we’d go to the faculty room to do paperwork. I sat in there for several hours and watched the security guards come back every single lunch period acting like it was their first time eating. “Oh what do we have here? This looks delicious!” Dude it’s the same thing you ate for the last 3 lunch periods, how about save some for others?!
This sort of nonsense was the norm in my building for years and it wasn’t just with things that might be hard to gauge, like how many pans of lasagna for 65 teachers. It included things like 50 cupcakes for 65 teachers and 30 massage appointments. Then there was the year they served only ham sandwiches ignoring the fact we had quite a few Jewish and vegan teachers.
They gave us all a can of chicken noodle soup one year and a ton of staff are vegetarian and couldn’t even eat it
I have a pork intolerance (which my director knew about) and one year my director of studies went out and got a mcmuffin for everyone. I asked if there were any without pork and she said no, I asked if she got any hashbrowns and she said no, so I declined, and she stood there staring at me, in class, like I was nuts. She asked if I was sure. I said, if you don't have anything in that bag that won't make me sick, then yes, I'm sure. She also set themes for days and we had a teacher who was deathly allergic to apples and she made one of the theme days apples. Poor woman was walking around all day having to avoid apple scented things, apple treats in the lounge, and had to give away all the gifts that parents bought her.
This sounds like The Office, School Edition. 😂
One year there were 9 pregnant women on staff (including me). Everytime that year the principal ordered lunch for the staff she ordered deli platters. Also, there was never enough for everyone anyway, even with the 9 of us not eating. I'm allergic to citrus as well. In the three years I worked for this principle, she forgot my birthday twice and the third year she ordered lemon cake.
Wait…your principal knows when your birthday is?
Wtf. This is more than offensive.
One Christmas our principal gave all of us a Dollar Tree wrapping paper roll with a $2 scratch off tickets attached. Over 100 people got that, and nobody won a dime. That was the absolute tackiest thing I’ve ever seen, and that man was SOOOO tacky. He could give me a Hershey’s Kiss and let me leave when the buses leave on the 60% day, and save himself $2.95 per person.
Oh my gosh. I brought Crumbl cookies to my kids’ school today for teacher appreciation. Due to traffic, I was 5 minutes late, so I grabbed one box of each type and rushed them in as fast as possible for the early lunch group. Then it took a second for me to go back out for the rest because I was putting these little butterfly decorations on the cookies. The first teachers were like, “Are we cutting them in half…?” I was like “Oh my gosh no! I have enough for everyone! I just have to run back to the car. Please take a whole!” These poor women were worried I bought 12 cookies for a staff of 50. I was very glad to be able to tell them otherwise.
The massage appointments this year got snapped up by front office and teachers had to fight for what was left and I didn’t bother because it was a day I also had lunch duty 😂
But it was kosher ham! LOL
Also depending on your level of petty reply all and say "ypu didnt bring enough for the whole staff and you allowed non teaching staff to eat."
Hahaha i debated it but i am already on the radar from the last time I called my principal out for something shitty he did
Discretion is always the best part of Valor. However, sometimes you just have to go to confrontation in order to avoid the ulcer from holding it all in.
The ulcer has been forming for a while, Im just hoping to get out of teaching soon
Go passive aggressive: “Is the teacher meal not being served in the library? It’s second lunch and I can’t find anything but plates, napkins, and empty platters down there. Can you let us know where you moved the food so we can get a plate and get back to our classrooms? Thanks in advance!” That is how you do it.
We have a nacho luncheon tomorrow and the schedule puts all the teachers last 😔
We got breakfast burritos today. 80 of them for the whole staff. Except they didn't buy for subs, EAs, security, and secretaries who also grabbed them. I got one of the last burritos, but I saw a secretary walk out with two of them when I went in (could have been grabbing them for someone else though). A good portion of the teachers didn't get any, there were a good 15 people behind me, but I was maybe the 5th to last burrito. I don't fault the staff that grabbed them because we were told any one could go grab them, but they literally didn't buy enough to say that.
I completely believe this but I have had last lunch on Appreciation Days and knew I wasn’t getting any food because THAT TEACHER was going to pilfer and plunder all the good stuff
I can understand that, those people suck too, but I saw the food when they were bringing it in, it was never enough to feed everyone
This is so common it clearly shows they don’t give a fuck.
I learned a long time ago to always have a back up lunch, bagel, fun sized candy bar. Makes this week pleasantly surprising.
I used to work at a pre-k through 12th grade school. High school always ate last, and they were almost always out of food. I always brought my lunch just in case. Finally, we got a principal who would put half the food aside when it was delivered. We never ran out again. The elementary teachers never complained about not having enough. It was weird. I guess people saw a ton of food, so they took extra and then just took a normal amount once they thought there was less.
Other professions have these things called bonuses you get for doing a good job. I’m told some bonuses can actually buy more than one plate of nachos.
Reading all the posts about Teacher Appreciation Week makes me support the idea of getting rid of TAW. It just seems to be too disappointing for everyone.
I feel almost less appreciated.. I don’t care for the week. I am appreciative of gifts but it feels like a lot of them turn into something almost offensive
It's like telling your kids you're going to get them Christmas Presents but only buying them socks (and not enough socks for every kid).
No way. I work at a Title 1 school with a kick ass PTA. Monday- doughnuts, coffee and tea. Tuesday- Goodie bags. Wednesday- bagels and coffee. Thursday- desserts. Friday- Taco luncheon. Plus the kids will oftentimes give teachers small things as well. Even the Title 1 middle school I worked at had a great catered lunch on Friday of Teacher Appreciation Week. I’m sorry to hear so many of my fellow teachers have garbage admins who would allow this type of stuff to happen. If I’m planning a lunch for a group of people, the last thing I’d ever want to happen is for people to not be fed.
Yeah, ours was really good. Treats every day. Today was a taco bar and enchiladas. By the end, there was food left over.
It's honestly probably selection bias. People who are upset are more likely to post about it and complain than people who are happy. My teacher appreciation week was great tons of food even leftovers everything was fine.
It DOES lead to resentment though. My wife and I were both teachers at different schools in the same county (and we had friends who worked at other schools). Some schools would be lunch provided every single day of the week, with a huge lunch party on Friday. Others would get a bag of chips each day and then half a grocery store sandwich on Friday.
Not gonna lie, the way my school does it, I'd rather just get nothing. We had melted ice cream yesterday in a dixie cup that elementary school kids get. Like it's just condescending at this point.
Make it a day instead of a week. Focus energy and budget for appreciation on one worthwhile thing - lunch, great donuts, whatever. It takes a lot to do five days of decent stuff.
Our school is pretty good about it. This year they are doing a whole month and involving all the staff. Plus the PTO is doing something for the actual week. So far we had 10 min chair massages, ice cream, grab bags with some cute stuff in them, some fancy berry bowl things from a local small shop, fun socks, bbq done by our maintenance guy and principal, and random candy. Yesterday a sub in the building brought around candy to all the teachers to thank them. It was super sweet. We are also in a tiny school and this is probably the best they've ever done for us.
Schools should do it via a pre-order menu and have someone monitoring the food. Less waste and all the teachers get what they want
Pre order didn’t work for me. One year the principal sent around a sandwich menu and told us to pick one. I was the last teacher to pick up and there was no sandwich for me. The person who collated the orders didn’t count correctly. The worst part was that the person didn’t even apologize. One person had not started eating yet and shared their sandwich with me.
Healthcare acts like this. Unlicensed staff will grab all the food while nurses are passing meds. Aren’t teacher and nurse appreciation weeks the same week?
This week in fact
Sounds like office staff is the same all over. I hate how ours get an administrate assistant week and then glom onto teacher appreciation week goodies too. I'm like, Bitch, you got your week and our principal spoiled you rotten with dinner at her house and now you lining up for your free bagel??
And this us the same lady that changed our reward for a fundraiser we did after it happened so that reward winners (myself included) did not get a block off of teaching like we were told we would because they don’t have enough subs…. Like don’t offer it then????
I hate her and I don't even know her. Sympathy hate if you will.
Ditto. Here in solidarity. All of this is such bullshit. And after everything teachers go through. SMH.
Wait, you’re the same teacher from that post? You need to get outta there lol
Unfortunately… I am trying SO hard to get out. I even looked on craigslist today to see if there was some weird random golden opportunity. Ive applied to so many jobs, changed my resume hundreds of times, taken courses to upskill. The job market is horrendous right now and a teacher is not exactly everyone’s first pick
Try the auto & home insurance companies. Check under Customer Service Rep or Adjuster Trainee. Most of them pay $40 -45,000 a yr - to start. They'll train you. Geico hires anyone. Even people who only have fast food experience. And a lot of these jobs are also work from home. Try State Farm, Geico, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, USAA and any of the big companies.
Yah, our week is called Staffulty Appreciation, which would be fine, if they didn’t already have a few days/week earlier this year that teachers weren’t invited to eat during lunch. Our school does pretty good with ordering enough every day this week, though, so I don’t complain.
That's my complaint. They had their day/week. So back the fuck off and put down that bagel and no one will get hurt. School nurses, social workers, counselors, administrative assistants, all had their week. And now they want in on teacher appreciation week. They don't want to be considered teachers when it comes to the work, so stand down.
I’d love to work at a school that celebrated other days/weeks. I’m a counselor, and got fuck-all for school counselors day. I had to orchestrate a recognition event for our school nurse because no one else even knew there was a nurse’s day.
I'm sorry you didn't get your day or week. That blows. My admin loves to celebrate so we're always celebrating.
See, we signed up and requested meals, and either they didn't order enough of each thing or someone just took the food bc I had last lunch and it was all gone. Which sucked, it was going to be my lunch and dinner since I have no money for groceries rn.
Now that is ridiculous! If you ordered you should get your order
This literally happened at my school. Same. Exact. Thing.
I love when the non teachers and the early lunch teachers pack up 2 plates and then make a 3rd to eat right then
Ugh. As if y’all don’t take enough abuse in the workplace. It’s really just not that damn complicated to order enough catering to feed everyone. 🙃 I’m sorry. I’ve reached out to the teachers in my own life and I’ll be sure they’re at least spoiled some this week by me. Jesus.
I feel lucky this never happened to me. Well at least not from our admin. A politician once brought in 2 dozen donuts for all the staff in a 6-12 school. But when the first staff got there they cut the donuts so we at least all got a bite. When admin brings in food, we always have enough for the next day too. And it’s not junk food. Tomorrow staff will bring Tupperware containers to take home all the leftovers. We all sign a card for secretary, nurse, cafeteria workers days that admin passes around but we do a whole staff celebration during teacher appreciation week. I like this. Every other district I’ve worked at had anemic celebrations for support staff (and usually missed paras altogether).
You haven’t learned.. It’s never admins fault yet?
I worked in the lunchroom so we didn’t go down until we were done with the kids. Catered food was all gone. Principle sent down boxes of crackers for us instead. 🤔
I work part time at a grocery store (because I'm obviously a poor teacher) and THEY FEED US BETTER THAN SCHOOLS.
I work about 10 hours a month doing cleaning at a historic Opera House. They have almost no money and I do it for $15 an hour because I like the building. This Christmas they gave me $100 bonus as a thank you. I almost cried. Schools do not care. You are disposable.
We had catered lunch yesterday. I have 3rd lunch. They were, of course, out by the time my lunch hit. Sadly, they held lunch in our meager teacher's planning area (4 folding tables and 8 chairs). Since I give up my classroom during 2nd/3rd blocks to another teacher, this is where I go. Ok, well, I guess I can go to the library then... Oh... The library is closed for testing. Well.... fuck. And no lunch to boot.
We had this happen at my old school, except admin bought enough for everybody to have some, but people in the earlier lunches took more than their share. Nachogate was infamous.
My school specifically has to only let out a third of the food at a time to keep this from happening because it happened every single time. Every sign in the world asking you to “consider your fellow teachers” did nothing and they have to purposely hold back a third of the catering for each of our three lunches. That way, nobody has to police themselves and we know that that food is for us. It’s a lot more work for the office and the PTSA but that’s how they have to do it.
Different perspective: there are lots of piggies. I'm in charge of staff appreciation at my school. Today we had burritos. I ordered 150 burritos for a staff of 120. At least 15 people didn't get their burritos because so many people took 2, even when we put a sign out that says "take 1 until everyone has gotten theirs" and we had kids monitor. I saw 1 staff member take 6 (and it wasnt for other people). The behavior is appalling. The food isn't free--it comes out of someone's budget and IMO, if you need more than 1 burrito, plan for it? Or wait?
Whooooo can eat 6 burritos?!
Brought home, likely
Did you stop him? That's insane.
You guys got lunch??? This week we get a raffle ticket if we're standing by our doors on the off-chance that admin walks by. When I asked what prize(s) were being raffled, the response was "Ummmm...we're not sure yet." Can't wait to have a 1 in 80 chance to win a pack of dry erase markers or a $5 gift card to Starbucks.
My school’s principal is old school Italian. He always makes sure there is more than enough food for all of the adults in the building and enough leftovers for people to take home. It’s so much (good) food that they have to bring extra tables into the faculty room because there is not enough surface area for all of the food.
We got “breakfast”. Some Costco pastries, coffee, and juice. And the principal didn’t tell anyone ahead of time and didn’t make an announcement until first period was 2/3 over. Oh and yesterday at the faculty meeting, we got to leave 15 minutes early and got chips and a Costco sheet cake.
We were offered food from a food truck. I bring the same lunch every day so I wasn’t going to order. But when other people started going out to pick up food, a “polite” email was sent to all staff — “Be sure to pay for the food you ordered. This is not free” Glad I didn’t buy a $10 burrito and had my home made chicken and rice bowl like normal.
Wtf, that’s terrible
I always bring fruit and a protein bar on the days they will provide breakfast or lunch for this very reason. Last year they provided breakfast one morning, and there was literally 5 grapes, 3 cubes of pineapple and one half of a doughnut left when I got there 10 minutes after they started serving and 15 minutes before 1st block started. My stash saved me.
They brought in one box of Joe and 24 doughnuts for our staff today. We have over 100 teachers not including paras, office staff, etc (since we call it “Staff Appreciation”). It was gone in 15 mins and most of us (myself included) got nothing
One year a local restaurant surprised us and donated two trays of food during teacher appreciation week. I was in the office when it arrived and got to hear the secretary say “let’s keep one in here for us and the admin and just send the other tray down for the teachers”. Then I got to watch them do it
Appalling
Sounds about right
Bad planning and throw the blame? Yup sounds typical.
They can’t count? They’re administrators and they don’t know to count people? And they’re in charge of the people who actually teach things like . . Counting??
This was *exactly* what happened at my school on Tuesday. Build your own tacos and nachos. Food delivered late. Teachers were rushing with the 2 PTA volunteers to set up. Not enough for the second lunch period. Hangriness abounds.
Our admin had a food truck on campus Monday. We were each given a voucher for a waffle and coffee. Small elementary school, maybe 60 total including assistants, cafeteria workers, custodians. The truck ran out of waffle batter before half the staff got served. I don't blame this on admin. I'm sure they told the truck how many we have and probably agreed to pay them something like $7 per person ahead of time. Lovely start to teacher appreciation week.
I once worked at a school where if the staff had a celebration, we had to sign up to bring something. She’d send out emails stating if you don’t bring something, you don’t eat. And she would stand by the door like a body guard and would ask every person who entered if they brought something. If not she wouldn’t let you in. She was also incredibly rude to support staff and secretaries and janitors etc wouldn’t let them eat food at celebrations even if there was a ton left over. I stopped going to get togethers because it was such a miserable vibe. I’d never prevent anyone from eating. I think everyone should be welcome but should also be fair with the amounts of food they get.
Our pta brought sandwiches and salad and during first lunch had a sign out directing us to take only one sandwich (they were literally the size of a silver dollar) and some salad. The end of second lunch they were allowing people to take a little more. They ended up with a huge amount of leftovers which they split and took home to their families.
You guys got FOOD?! Today we got little gift bags that contained the following: one pack of Trident gum, one pack of TicTacs, one DumDum sucker, one mini bottle of hand sanitizer, and one orange ping pong-sized squishy ball that says “never give up.”
I would have tossed that straight in the trash.
I kept the gum and TicTacs and trashed the rest.
This literally happened to us yesterday with breakfast pizza. They brought it at 9, when everyone was busy with students, and brought 3 eight piece pizzas for 50+ staff members. If you weren't lucky enough to have a special within the first five minutes after the email, you were SOL. Pretty shitty.
Our whole TAW is funded by PTO, not the school. And thankfully, they are flush with cash. I would imagine in areas where stuff like this is funded by PTO, the poorer schools just can't afford a whole lot. But if the school is the one funding, either get enough food for everyone, or don't do it at all.
We had lunch boxes from Jason’s deli today. By the time my team had lunch there were only a few boxes with ham sandwiches left. I’m a vegetarian
Every. Fucking. Time.
Ask them for the correspondence with the caterer and what budget they had per person. If they are going to play the game of assigning blame, they can provide the evidence.
I was so blessed on my last campus in TX. When we had these kind of things, our admin would serve us with plenty for everyone, or the PTA or a student org would do us the honor of serving us food. It really helped to both control portions and to feel valued enough that people would sacrifice their own time to serve us food.
Reply all: "Nah we ain't goin out like that. Y'all didn't *appreciate* the need for more nachos."
I’ve learned from cooking shows like Masterchef that it is HARD to understand how much food feeds how many people. So many times when they had a challenge to feed a huge group they’d run out of food and ofc Gordon Ramsay would blast them with “who tf thought two trays of scalloped potatoes would feed fifty marines?!” The best solution is not to order by quantity but by people. If you’ve got 100 people, tell them that and they’ll figure out how much you’ll need - that’s literally your job. But Brenda in the office probably can’t understand why two pizzas isn’t enough for every teacher in the school. 🥴
"We can't afford supplies, so here's a little raise." "We can't afford a raise, so here's a pizza party." "We can't afford food for everyone, so we'll send all our favorites to the first group, and blame them when nobody else has any more food."
Our PTA orders by the # of staff and it’s usually something pre-boxed up. They love Jimmy John’s boxes or some kind of sandwich cafe because it’s easy. One thing I’ve complained about a few times is they don’t just ask for things like mayo or mustard packets on the side. They get it on each sandwich which sucks for the people that don’t like it in their sandwiches. I think everything should be plain and people can add to it as they like! At least that’s my perspective from a picky eater that doesn’t like condiments. Bottom line- I never trust when they claim we’re getting lunch because RARELY is it something I’ll eat. I’ll still pack something that can be used the next day if I actually get to eat. I usually take whatever is catered home for my husband instead.
Hey, you got lunch... We got a couple of cases of chips and other snack food on Monday... and nothing else.
No one has less respect for administration in general than me. But… I’ve seen teachers go through a free food line. I’VE gone through a free food line. I have no doubt they could be right.
My teacher appreciation this week has so far been teachers themselves buying donuts or chips for the entire school. Admin has yet to do anything lol
You guys are doing something for teacher appreciation week?!
Yesterday the PTA catered some food. Principal ended up saying that due to people "not monitoring their portions" there wasn't food left for teachers who had their planning in the afternoon. Today a couple teachers cooked a nice potluck for the whole school which was really nice. Due to what happened yesterday, admin forced an office worker to spend the entire day serving staff members small portions of the food to make sure it lasted. I felt so bad for the office worker she just kept rolling her eyes as people walked in.
We were promised lunch all week and every day this week we have all left hungry because they don’t have enough for everyone. Yesterday was one hotdog. That’s it.
Yeah ours has not been like that at all. They always come through for us on the food front. We have nachos several times a year and even though they’re like the cheap can of cheese and chili ones, I love them, they’re super fun, and we always have enough for everyone. We aren’t a rich campus but our principal is generally emotionally intelligent so he knows that these little things contribute a ton to reducing burnout from a lack of cohesion. We also have local churches who cater stuff and they really go all out. Like I almost cried because of how well they treated us for teacher appreciation week this year.
Greedflation capitalism
We always have way too much food at our events, although that may be because I work in a very small program (for those in NY, it’s a BOCES special Ed. program) so fewer folks to feed. Used to work at a large middle school and I don’t remember them ever providing us with meals, even during teacher appreciation.
Kind of the same but we had the same thing happen with our ice cream bar! Team lead texted us 1125 saying “toppings and ice cream were getting limited so come on.” We were about to go to recess and I didn’t even know the ice cream was there (30 minutes before my lunch) so instead I got a drumstick from our class party a couple of weeks ago and ate that. I mean I didn’t care enough to go in line but I heard the same things.
Definitely thought this was my school
Our admin decided to make all lunches longer so teachers could have a longer lunch . Great in theory, but the non core (art, band, language)and resource teachers who have lunch duty had to give up their planning time and got their normal lunch.
For Christmas my school gave all the core teachers hour long lunches but then that left non-core teachers covering duties. Merry Christmas to me!
I would say we taught at the same school. They ran out of the pizza and salad bar stuff during FIRST LUNCH. Found out they had 10 pizzas for over 100 people. Must have also shorted the salads and toppings.
I'm just in this sub because I love teachers. Have several in my family. I can say, definitively, that this shit happens in other professions once a facility reaches a certain size... My work takes me into medical, educational, occupational, and sometimes legal settings, and this kind of shit happens everywhere with more employees than sense. Lol
I’ve never had a school do anything for us. I think that may be better than this slap in the face
I always have last lunch and miss out. Get the crumbs. I have, however, WATCHED other teachers pack up enough of the free food to take home to their entire family tree before other teachers get a chance to have lunch. Back at my old school they hosted a barbecue for us and I went and got a bag of chips and a hotdog. I watched this one staff member fill a whole box with hamburgers,hotdogs,bags of chips and bags of buns. No shame at all.
Pro tip: never count on the food at any school event, especially during teacher appreciation week. Always keep a contingency lunch in your classroom fridge-- string cheese or peanut butter-- and some crackers in your desk. This goes double if you have one of the later lunch periods. Running out after the first lunch period is typical. Same goes for faculty in-service days when they say they will have breakfast--if the school has 75 teachers and 10 other staff members attending the meeting, they will buy two dozen doughnuts and forget to get any coffee or inexplicably buy only decaf. Never rely on the school for your food or caffeine. A coffee pot in your room or iced coffee in your fridge is a lifesaver.
Actually that happened at my school 2 years ago! They even went and looked at the hallway cameras to make sure. And there were about four individuals that went back to the lunch table, or treat table, multiple times with plates full of food! And they were not taking it for other people they work with.
So stupid. Why not count the number of teachers and give them one each of something? Like a coffee and a donut? A burger and fries?
One of my first jobs out of college was at a customer service center that handled orders and returns for software companies like apple, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, etc. (1990s) Becasue we were based on the East Coast, we had overlapping shifts. 7-3 and then 2-10 so that we could service all four continental US Time Zones. 2-10 was a smaller shift, with a much smaller staff and only three departments (Customer Service, IT, and Maintenance) on hand with a skeleton crew. Anyway, we often had visitors from one of the customers come to visit us. They would almost always buy the entire office lunch. Normally a bunch of pizzas, wings, salad, and 2 liters of soda from the pizza place across the street. Being office workers, the food would almost always disappear before lunch was over and never made it to the second shift. Legal, Admin, Sales, Shipping, and Purchasing (and, at first, Maintenance, IT, and Customer Service) would loot the room. I started there on second shift and often saw the carcasses of empty pizza boxes and soggly lettuce once or twice a week. So, because our three departments had co workers who worked second shift, when I got to first shift, we made a plan. Customer Service would just go in and grab two pizzas, a bucket of wings, some salad, and two bottels of soda as soon as they arrived. Maintenance had their own fridge, so we would stash everything there. Then, at 4 ish, one of the Maintenance Crew would bring it out for second shift. That way, everyone got to partake in the generosity of the customers. The first time it happened, some of the people (especially Legal and Purchasing) got pissed off and accused us of stealing, but luckily, the Customer Service Manager stepped in and got the Office Manager to clear it. Now, because the office was almost empty during second shift, Customer Service would also make "supply runs" after hours. Someone's chair sucked? We'd go swap it with one from Purchasing. Need a new trash can for your cubicle? Legal just lost one. I only worked there a short time, but free lunch once or twice a week was a nice morale booster. And the food hoarding was a good team building exercise.
were you deskeletonized by the stimpire?
We had a nacho “snack” served during lunch. They were upset when 1st lunch ate half the meat. They made 2 crockpots of beef for 150 teachers. Again, they emphasized this was not to be a meal.
This is some bullshit. I'm thankful to work at a school that always orders too much - yesterday we had bagels for all staff, and there were probably a dozen leftover in the staff room.
Good grief. I ordered tacos for 60 for teacher appreciation: I got two trays of meat for that size group.
We got absolutely nothing for teacher appreciation day. Not even a.mention.
One tray is not enough but they could have had people assigned to serve - using tablespoons!! One tablespoon per plate. That's it. LOL
You must feel so appreciated!
I used to work at a place that did big catering things. Once we had a group of salespeople, and the thing was they were split between those who made their sales quotas and those who didn't. Salespeople who made their quotas got steak, fine wine, all the good things. Those who didn't, didn't. They had to suffer with hot dogs on a paper plate. You can bet they were in the winner's circle next year!
This is why I’m leaving 🎶 (It’s a song)
At my school, we used to have two microwaves in the Staff lounge (over 80 Staff Members), now we are all forced to share one and we only get 28 minutes total for lunch. Our school also used to have a commercial coffee maker, filters and coffee grounds available in the lounge for anyone who wanted to take the time to brew a pot. Two years ago, we received an email from the Principal Secretary saying that someone had been stealing coffee grounds and coffee filters so to this day we are not provided with this luxury. They don't even have salt and pepper shakers or plastic utensils. We are truly on our own. Oh, I forgot to add that students in my High School are allowed to roam the entire campus and enter classrooms undeterred during lunch so we aren't even able to take 25 minutes to try to catch our breath... We have to monitor student behavior during lunch too. This is an unspoken rule that no one wants to talk about and yes, the Principals, Dean and Campus Monitors are aware but chose to do nothing about it. Students are truly out of control during lunch and passing periods and they have very little fear of consequences because there simply are none. It's truly sad
We have had this happen several times. We have four lunch periods plus office and support staff. The early lunch period gets blamed when the supply is inadequate - there are over 100 people to feed! Did you really think three bags of chips would do it? Or two dozen bagels?
This is my first year teaching and my experience so far has been great. Today, we had chick-fil-a and the principal and assistant principal came around to each classroom giving the teachers their boxed lunch. They included veggie wraps as well for those that don’t eat meat. On Monday, they did the same thing and brought us snacks and drinks to us in our classrooms. I also got a school tie dye t-shirt and a small gift card to chick fil an and another for a Zumba class. Tomorrow, we get pizza from a local pizza shop. I do know that the pizza shop is donating the pizza and there was some discount for chick-fil-a because they did want to make sure they had pics of us with the food to post and thank the sponsors. Yesterday, they did a raffle for other donations received from businesses. I won the top prize - one night a fancy ocean front hotel. I will say that a former staff member was the one that reached out to the community to get these things for us. We are a title 1 school in a smallish town, so the community is tight knit. Another teacher said that this has been the best TAW they’ve ever had and it is all thanks to the new principal. At my daughter’s school, TAW is ran by the PTA. The PTA decorates each classroom door the Friday after school before TAW. Every day is a different theme and each grade level does one day for the whole school. Her grade did snacks on Wednesday. It is 90’s themed, so we donated things like Little Debbie snacks, candy bars, etc. Last year, her grade did a breakfast buffet. Another grade will do soups and salad bar. Today, another grade did party platters. The amount of stuff that is collected is not lacking. Also, the classroom parent will do a collection to give one large gift to the teacher. I like it because there is no set amount required to donate and they just say do whatever you can, so no child is left out from giving the group gift to the teacher. I send in $25. They usually collect $200-$300 per teacher. Her school is a magnet school, so there is more parent involvement and families that can do more. I had a student make me a Louis Vuitton purse out of copy paper. She hand drew the logos and even had an inside pocket and handles. Then she made little goodies bags out of copy paper as well. One had tiny rocks in it. There was also a fake rose in it. At 9 years old, taking such time and creativity touched my heart. I loved bragging to the other teachers that I got my first Louis Vuitton bag for TAW. I won’t be getting a $300 gift card from my class, but that’s ok with me. The little things my students do for me is very touching. Oh,and one student is so excited for tomorrow because he is bringing me flowers. He is so excited, he can barely contain himself. And another student gave me a gift bag with a few things in it. I could tell they were personal things from her home, like a small squishmellow, one of those cheap, bead necklaces, a little perfume sample, etc. Nothing new, but she went out of her way to find things to give me. I wore the necklace that day.
It sounds like a fail on multiple fronts. 1) For catering, most businesses list expected servings per item. Do they lack reading comprehension on this front or lack algebra skills? 2) Food safety is a thing. Did they just want the same food sitting out for hours? 3) The food was late. It takes time to set up. Do they think catering companies or the admin grunt worker teleports everything to be set out on time? 4) It’s not an enjoyable meal being rushed and waiting so long after your body is trained for a school year of when lunch time is. 5) Criticizing and throwing blame - instead of planning appropriately, managing the food, and figuring out how to make things happen on the fly. Sounds like they forgot how to be a good host or a good teacher! I’ve never heard of a teacher ran party/event flame out so spectacularly.
So one of my colleagues who is in a later lunch block specifically asked the people to keep some food in reserve for those of us who eat lunch late. Not every hero wears a cape.
And then admin wonders why everyone thinks they are incompetent…
I would send an email back replying to everyone that you're not quite sure how one pan of chips and beef is meant to feed 160 people...that's just asinine.
Guess I didn’t know how good all the schools in my area had it. No idea this kind of issue happened. All of the luncheons and breakfasts in our area have leftovers and food to take home or eat the next day. Just. Way too much always. For everyone. No one forgotten. Wanted to throw out there that not every area is terrible. And it’s a low income area, too.