Discussions

Staying at school for lunch!  
 
I would like to find out what the different schools in Brandon do over the lunch hour.  
 
1. Are your children able to stay at school for lunch or do you have to pay a lunch program fee in order for your child to stay over the lunch hour?  
 
2. Is it a volunteer parent run program or run by the school?  
 
3. If your school has a lunch program fee is it free for bus students and only the walkers are dinged with this fee?  
 
4.for those with lunch program fees what is the cost and what is provided? just supervision? warm up program? hot lunches with an extra fee? milk program? ect.  
 
I am also curious to know what is going on in Winnipeg and other Manitoba Towns. I am trying to get an overall picture as to what is going on in the province as I know it is not the same across the bored and its an issue that should be addressed.  
 
Thanks

1. Bus students are able to stay at the school for lunch. Lunch supervision is provided by the school. Non-bus students are expected to go home for lunch or be signed up for a lunch supervision program.  
 
2. For most schools in BSD, there is a lunch program provided by the YMCA, and a lunch program run privately or by the parent council.  
 
3. Fees apply based on which lunch program is used. Contact the specific program you wish to use for the fees. Bus students are not required to pay any lunch program fees.  
 
4. Check with the specific programs for fees. The other options vary widely between schools and age of the students.  
 
My best advice is to contact the school in which you expect your child(ren) to attend and see what options are available to you. They'll be able to direct you best.

I am wanting to find out what the different schools in brandon and the province are doing in order to compare them.  
 
some how most small town areas have figured out how to get supervision over lunch with no lunch fees or having to have parent run volunteer programs to do itl... Brandon needs to wake up and make a change.

My child attends St. Augustine’s school and all kids stay for lunch for free. As far as I know there is 1 or 2 staff that walk from class to class checking on everyone. Kids are ultimately left unsupervised though with the teacher checking in often. Older students help the younger grades with the microwave. The school is small with max 20 kids per class and 1 class per grade so not an issue.  
 
Now going back to my youth (many many years lol) I went to school in Minnedosa. Nobody went home for lunch. We had lunch boys/girls. If I remember right it was grade 6 kids. They signed up and came in groups of 2 to supervise the younger grades. They had incentives for kids to volunteer like monthly prizes and a year end pizza party. When we were older we all took our bagged lunches and sat in the pit. Students were assigned to vacuum/clean up the space on a rotation. We only leafy school grounds at lunch once we got to high school otherwise it wasn’t allowed without permission.

New Era allows all kids to stay for free at lunch with EA / older child supervision.

One of our kids goes to Riverheights, but she's bused. From what I understand, all bused children in the division automatically are able to stay for lunch with supervision provided by the school. Children who are not bused either go home for lunch, or are enrolled in the lunch program run by the parent counseil I believe, although I think there's a waiting list. There are fees involved in the parent run lunch program.  
 
My other kids will be going to St. Augustine's next year, and I was told all stay for lunch. The vast majority of those kids are not from the neighbourhood, as it has no specific catchment area.  
 
In Winnipeg, the general rule seems to be that if your kids are bused, you are provided a lunch program, but if you're inside the 1.6 km and don't get bused, you're on your own for lunch or a user-fee. We have many nieces and nephews living there, and that seems to be the norm. Also, there's a few nieces/nephews that go to school of choice in a different division than their resident division (they live right on the boundary line), and they didn't get lunch programs as they would not normally qualify if they attended their local school. A couple of nephews are also in a Catholic school, and I think she pays for the lunch program as well.  
 
For rural schools and in small towns where the vast majority of kids are bused or live outside of the 1.6 km radius, it makes sense that the school would provide the program, as going home for lunch isn't a physical option due to distance. Not having parents home for their kids is a different issue, which is where the parent-run or Y lunch programs come in.  
 
edit to add: St. Augustine's has a milk program. There is a fee for that.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2019-05-28 13:20:20

now that's just it isn't it... most parents aren't able to be home over the lunch hour. there's not a lot of flexibility or understanding these days to allow it or it isn't possible due to distance ect.  
 
I doubt you would find anything like this in ontario. I don't know for sure but i doubt it.  
 
Thanks to everyone so far for your answers : )

The lunch program at Riverheights is actually run by one lady. It is a paid spot.  
Bus kids stay in a different lunch program at the school, no charge for them.  
The paid program is run out of the small gym in the school and the kids eat on the floor of the gym.

I have no info yet on these schools:  
 
-Alexander  
 
-Betty Gibson  
 
-George Fitton  
 
-Ecole Harrison  
 
-King George  
 
-Kirkcaldy  
 
-Meadows  
 
More in depth information on how schools are running programs that are open to all at no cost would be great.

Have you tried contacting the schools yourself? I’m sure someone there could answer your questions, and with likely more accurate answers.

Parents not being home, absolutely a problem. I imagine it's incredibly frustrating for those families who need a lunch program and end up on a waiting list. There have been enterprising people on my street that have kids come to their house to eat lunch because the lunch program at our local school was at capacity (I assume the parents paid them).  
 
That being said, is it actually the school's problem? School start and end times don't generally align with parent's work, but it's not up to the school to provide child care during those periods. How is this different?  
 
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you that lunch programs should maybe the universally provided by the school, but I'm wondering if we follow this logic if it makes sense to actually do so.

You seem to want to know what schools throughout Manitoba do.  
 
You say there is an "issue" that needs to be addressed.  
 
You say Brandon needs to "wake up"  
 
What on earth makes you think other hard working people are going to take time out of their day to do research for you to help identify or confirm an "issue" that you have already decided exists?

This is just a witch hunt. If you wanted actual answers you could just phone the schools and get this information.  
 
You've ready made up your mind and just want the general public to feed your pre-set ideals.

When my children went to Kirkcaldy, I always felt bad for the kids who lived close to the school who went home for lunch but were not allowed to go back to the school to play with their friends after they were finished eating lunch at home. If they were not part of the "paid" lunch program they were sent back home or had to sit in the office until the bell rang for classes to start. I was a stay at home mom at the time and actually ending up paying for my children for the lunch program, even though they came home for lunch, just so they could go back and play with their friends at lunch in the play ground, because that was the best time of the day" to just play with their friends on the school playground playing soccer, on the play structures etc.. For some kids though that was not financially an option and would have to watch their friends play from across the street and were told to stay at home and watch TV. I respect that the staff are entitled to their lunch break but with all the time and money spent in society on encouraging physical activity in children, you would think the government would somehow fund supervision for this prime time for children to be playing outside with their classmates.

I don’t know why people are upset at this post. If I were new to Brandon I would find this information valuable and that was my thinking when I replied. Sure, there may be an agenda and sure they could phone the schools but this format shared the information with lots of people.

As far as I know bus students stay for free. Non bus students pay a fee each month to stay which I believe is around $20? Could be wrong on that. Most schools in the division don’t have the Y either as a lunch program. Students can purchase lunch each day from George Fitton school. The school does provide some free lunches to those who struggle, but I cannot give exact information on that.

My kid goes to KG and I pay $25/month for her to stay for lunch. You get deals if you have multiple children.  
 
The kids that live outside of the catchment area and are bussed don't pay the fee.  
 
The lunch program is run by parent council and they hire and pay people to supervise the children.  
 
They allow all children who pay to stay. Doesn't matter how close or far away they live, there is no waiting list. This is the reason I applied for and got school of choice. (We now live in the catchment area)  
 
I'm not sure they'll change it when the new school opens and half the school goes to their catchment area school.  
 
Hope this helps!

Just curious if you are doing a study or are an interested parent in knowing what Brandon or Winnipeg Schools have to offer? Do you have a child about to enter the BSD or somewhere else.  
 
As another poster mentioned, you can log into the Brandon School Division and look at their newsletters explaining some of the lunch programs at various schools.  
 
You are asking for Brandon, Winnipeg and small Manitoba towns and  
too? What a request. That covers a huge area.  
 
You have to research each place on it’s own. If you live or are planning on moving here, you have to do some research online, or be clear what you are actually looking for.  
 
If not, then I hope you can ask each School Division and or School as they are all different and tailors children’s lunch needs to a regional need.  
 
Edited by Kellye, 2019-05-28 20:52:26

already did that, they don't all have the info available.

Never asked anyone to take time and do research... was asking the public seeing as they use the schools and would have the info. and yes it is an issue, no one should have to pay a fee for their children to stay over the lunch hour and it should definitely not rely on volunteers to run it. seeing as there is a good handful of schools out there that have figured out how to get by without a lunch program it CAN be done and it should be the same across the bored.

Where on earth do you get that from...  
 
The schools are busy enough, I don't feel the need to go to them to find answers I can get from the public/parents that have them. within less then a day I have been able to get info on a good amount of schools by asking people I know and the public. a lot faster then calling around to schools that I don't feel the need to pester.

Most schools in Brandon follow the same format...bus kids stay, all others pay/go home or to a daycare.  
Teachers in BSD have duty free lunch hours.

Exactly, the kids should have the right to be at the school over lunch hour. And thats how I feel. Its nothing against teachers or wanting them to take on the burden of lunch hour... its above them its about needing more funding into the school and having the supervision in which ever way the can do it. Lots of schools I have found that kids can stay its the EAs that do it and some use high school students or the older kids as well as volunteers. they also don't always have 1 person per class they have them walking to and from classes.. which is how it was when I was younger but I come from Ontario so I have no idea if it use to be that way out here or if its always been this way with half the schools charging a fee.

Thanks, I was kinda confused by that myself.

Can you please clarify what schools have figured out how to do lunch supervision for non-bus student without volunteer lunch program or Y provided lunch program?

parent/research... i was shocked to find out you have to pay a fee for your child to stay over lunch. It just doesn't make a lick of sense to me. then I found out that it depends on the school and where you live. It just doesn't make sense as to why some schools have it figured out and others don't.  
 
I found I wasn't able to just look up the answer im looking for online. Also I found most people in smaller towns were also surprised by this as well and had never heard of such a thing. So i want to know where its happening and where it's not. I wanted to see if the majority of schools have a paid program, or not or some where in the middle.  
 
So when it comes down to it I want to know what the different schools are doing to find out what my own child's school could possibly change. Pretty much from what I have come across our school could probably make changes and have a fee free lunch hour or at the very least cut the costs.

So it is your belief that all students should have the right to stay at school during non class hours and it should be paid for by increased school funding paid by everyone instead of a fee paid by the people that use the service?  
 
You have a right to that opinion but you will also get some that say you are out to lunch. Sorry if that confuses you.

Yes most do from the looks of it but I don't have all the schools yet.  
 
Thing is going home or to a daycare is really not an option for a majority of people. So we are forced into the program. Parents work and daycares want full time kids.  
 
And yes I know that they do. This is not about expecting them to be on duty. I believe that duty free lunch for teachers is province wide.

Why shouldn't they.. Go live else where and they do. This is not the norm from what I know and anyone else that doesn't live around here (even in province). You think with the way the working world works that parents can just take lunch when ever they want for how ever long they need. Its a struggle enough for a lot of people to be available before and after school and to find room in available programs. Plus do you know how slow some kids eat to have to take half that time walking or driving for those that can it doesn't make sense to go home unless you live across the street or 5 min walk away. plus kids at school are less likely to be getting into trouble.  
 
any ways this is not what this post was intended for I was just wanting to get some info so I could see the bigger picture of how things are being run at the different schools seeing as they are not the same. Get ideas of what schools could be doing to better the lunch hour for students and parents.

Just another example of how entitled we as a society have become. It’s not the schools job to babysit or provide care over a lunch break. Yes, many of us work through lunch and can’t pick up our kids. So what do we do? Either pay the $20 a month or make arrangements with another family or find a private lunch spot.