MID: Lunch problems

[Julie-Olson -SGH <jolson@FWPS.ORG>]

Help! I need some ideas from your collective wisdom. Here's the situation:
we have three lunches (one for each grade level). The problem is that 8th
grade reading time is during 7th grade lunch. So I have a library full of
7th graders hanging out at lunch (a "legal" activity) and 8th graders
hanging out (a "non-legal" activity -- they're supposed to be finding new
books for reading). Because my assistant and I are busy helping a steady
stream of students at the checkout counter and at computers and managing
student behavior in general, the 8th graders are slipping through the
cracks, wasting time and running amok. Currently, the 8th grade teachers
have assigned themselves different days: 4 teachers can send on Mondays
and Wednesdays, 4 can send on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They typically each
send 4 to 5 students at a time. (Although we had 40 in here this last
Tuesday!) They do give students time limits, but we aren't really able to
enforce those time limits because our attention is so divided. I should
probably also say that our facility is pretty small and we are
consistently at  or above maximum occupancy during this time.

So my question is this: how do you handle this type of situation in your
school? I have asked the teachers to try sending 1 or 2 students at a time
instead of 4 or 5 on the theory that 8 will run amok much less than 20
will. I've also asked if they can find a way to enforce their time limits
by giving consequences for returning late. What else could we be doing?

Thanks in advance, :)
Julie

Julie Olson, Librarian
Saghalie Middle School
253-945-5010
jolson@fwps.org

"Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you're standing outside the
fire." Jenny Yates and Garth Brooks

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