Don't want to put this in AIBU - but am I?

[Themumsnot]

Rather annoyed about something that happened at DD's school on Friday. The fire alarm bell went off near the beginning of lunch break and all the pupils were herded out of the building to the designated fire assembly points. Those who were already eating lunch had to leave it. Many children, including DD2, were in the lunch queue and had not yet got any food.
They were kept outside (quite properly, I have no quarrel with the school following the correct fire drill obviously) until the all clear was given, by which time it was the end of lunch break and they had to go straight to their classes. Some children who had packed lunches (DD1 for instance) were allowed time to eat it in class by their teachers. Those like DD2 who had intended to eat a school lunch were given no concession whatsoever. They went hungry.
I think this is completely unacceptable, but am open to being told that I am being unreasonable before I pen a polite missive to the school requesting that they look at their procedures for ensuring that children get fed in the event of the same thing happening again. What would you do?

This is an interesting one!

as a teacher I think it is un reasonable for teenagers to have no lunch but it is also more complex than simply keeping lunch going longer than normal. Obviously, its not a time schools do fire practises usually and so will have raised issues they'll need to think through.

I would send in a querying email about it that politly raises the issue of what might happen next time.

And, if you think it could happen again, send in yours with emergency muesli bars that are only to be opened in extreme need.

you are not over reacting (bet the teachers weren't happy either!)

DH and DD says that in their schools, children would be allowed to go back to their lunches/get one and then join their lessons.

So I reckon it's a complaint!

I would definitely raise it with the school. Its seems odd no-one had thought about contingency measures in such a situation (there were a couple of occasions when there were fire alarms - or in one case a minor chemical explosion[ hmm] at lunch, and steps were taken to make sure everyone had eaten). I think the 'hot food' thing is a bit of a red herring -from what I can gather at DS1s school he's in Yr9) most of the children buy sandwiches/salads/wraps/sausage rolls etc from the canteen rather than hot meals, so all would have been perfectly edible even after a fire drill. Most sensible option would have been for canteen to be opened and children given option to buy stuff like the above, crisps, snacks etc.

I'd be really unhappy if this had happened at my DS's school -I wouldn't feel leaving him with nothing to eat or drink all day (he doesnt have breakfast) in any way acceptable.

those are good points hatesponge. The will have been something they could eat, surely??

Its seems odd no-one had thought about contingency measures in such a situation however, i can totally believe they hadn't. A school is required to do a preactise drill in the year but will generally plan to do this with least actual disruption to the school life (last 15 mins before break time, for instance). I bet they had never thought about it at all.

There might have been food they could eat but no one to serve it if the dinner supervisors all knocked-off at the expected time.

And you can't just say 'well they should have stayed late' because you can't just demand that of people at the drop of a hat, especially if, as at my school, dinners are contracted out.

It really isn't a straightforward situation.

It's not just about sitting in lessons either - presumably some of the children (and staff) will have had rugby/football/hockey whatever lessons that afternoon - no fun at all if you're fasting.

Yes - catering staff would have clocked off, wouldn't they? So pointless telling the pupils to go back to the lunch queue.
Certainly worth a polite email - obviously the school can't stop idiots messing with fire alarms at inconvenient times, but they could maybe come up with a solution with the caterers for another time.

Oh come on they could have chucked a few bags of crisps and mars bars around. Not healthy but better than going hungry surely. And as other have said a lot of the meals will have been sandwiches or salads - and I'd eat most thigns cold anyway...well i have 2 young children :o

There aren't any crisps or mars bars in my school canteen.

Who would have 'chucked them around' if the catering staff had cleared them all away and gone home? It certainly wouldn't have been a quick task as these things need to be queued up and paid for.

As a teacher I think I would have helped out (however, its true that you won't find a packet of crips or mars bar on sale in a school )

It doesn't make any difference though. The school were caught out and will now have to consider what their response in the future would be.

I think the school were in a very difficult position but they should have sorted something out. It surely can't have been that difficult to provide the children who hadn't eaten (say 25% of the school if some had already eaten and some had packed lunch?) with something, even if it wasn't very substantial.

Send a box of crisps/a few loaves of bread and fruit to each form room for the teachers to give out?

I'm a teacher and I'm not saying I wouldn't have helped out.

What I am saying is that it would have been utter chaos if teachers had tried to take over the canteen. Working the tills? Figuring out how much the stuff costs? Sorting out smart cards? Kids milling around not knowing what on earth was going on.

How would SLT have been able to efficiently arrange a response to the situation which would have allowed teachers to take over the canteen (suspect our outside suppliers would have said no anyway, couldn't risk it with all the money involved), supervise an extended lunchbreak and marshall the kids back into lessons at an appropriate time while stood out on the playing field waiting for the fire alarms to be switched off and no access to email? Organising well over 1000 people into a hastily concocted system via a loudhailer?

TBH, I think I would have just, for sanity's sake, sent the kids to lessons as normal too. It will put off further pranksters setting off the alarm at lunchtime too, I suspect.

By the time a box of crisps and bread and fruit had been organised and distributed, it would be home-time. We're talking about over 1000 kids here at my school, a mega pack of monster munch and a bag of golden delicious isn't going to sort it.

I'm most that there are teenagers who actually eat lunch!

How do you manage to make them do that?

I don't think this is acceptable at all

Last year there was a powercut at the school where I teach and none of the food could finish cooking. We ended up with all the lunch staff, half the teachers and several prefects making sandwiches and salads with fruit and yogurt on a production line which the children ate picnic style off paper plates with their fingers (couldn't wash up either!)

It might mean a few adults have to do something which is technically not part of their job description or a bit beyond the call of duty (even stay slightly late shock horror) but an adult should be prepared to do that to prevent kids going hungry imho.

A child going without lunch is totally different to us doing it

x post with noble giraffe - 1000 kids would be a huge challenge I agree! But don't forget that it sounds like 6 or 700 of the kids had already eaten or had a packed lunch to eat.

But yes, there are only around 400 where I work and all the cooking is done on site and paid for in school fees not with actual money so it would have been a lot easier for us than for you.

I agree, Cervix. DS2 often goes without lunch because he "doesn't feel like it" and he is yet to waste away!

Obviously what the OP describes is not ideal, but as a one off (which it hopefully will be) it won't have done them any harm.

Well, one things for certain, the pranksters will probably not be very popular with those that went hungry.

I'm picturing the people having to clear up the cold congealed abandoned dinners (which the kids would have normally cleared up themselves after eating) even without having a horde of kids attempting to get a new dinner descending on them.

I wonder whether my school has a plan for this scenario. A fire drill at lunchtime where some kids and staff go off site would be bloody awful even without the food issue.

Twosteps - that's for sure!
Noble - I have every sympathy with the school, I work in a school myself so I know what the logistics would be like, but I am amazed that the contingency hasn't been foreseen before (especially as it is not exactly the first time the fire alarm has been, ahem, utilised by students).

Kids don't normally set the fire alarm off at lunch or break for fun because it's their time they're wasting.

And they probably won't again if they know it means they waste their lunch lined up on the playing field and end up going hungry.

If they had set it off and ended up with extended lunch, teachers going around handing out free crisps and general excitement and disorder, don't you think that would be an incentive to do it again?

It is possible that carrying on as normal was the best course of action in the circumstances.

fair enough - just seems a bit harsh to punish them all for the actions of one or two. And before people pile in - as an adult you have a choice to forego lunch. At school you do not.
No crisps and mars bars? But I was only at school a few years ago! OK, 17.

It's not a punishment, it is the result of the actions of one or two. It wasn't the school that deprived them of their lunch, it was whoever set the alarm off.

Obviously if there was a simple solution (if the catering staff could stay an extra fifteen minutes for example) then that would be reasonable, but that might not have been the case.

Blimey. How long is it between lunchtime and hometime at your school? A couple of hours? Presumably your child had breakfast and a snack at breaktime? Hardly likely to waste away before their evening meal. Would you still be complaining if the fire alarm had gone off for real?

Not all children have breakfast - my eldest DS never does, it makes him feel sick to eat early in the morning. And he doesn't take food to school, his first opportunity to eat is lunchtime (they don't have access to the canteen at break).

Worth remembering also some DC have to travel up to an hour on public transport to school -in the situation the OP describes those children could be without food til getting on for 5pm allowing for travel time home.