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Students get detention for paying with pennies
Filed under: Day Care & Education
Some people collect pennies in jars, some use them to make art, and some people actually use them to pay for things. Unfortunately, using pennies to pay for lunch at Readington Middle School in New Jersey can get you in trouble.
It seems that 29 eighth-graders got together and decided to all pay for their $2 lunches last Thursday with pennies. But when they all showed up with pennies in hand, the lunch ladies were not amused. "When the lunch ladies caught wind that we were all trying to pay in pennies, they were very aggravated and thought they were disrespected," says student Amanda Wolfenden.
Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff agrees that it was disrespectful to the lunch aides and the other students. "I don't think it was their intention to do much harm, but there's consequences for the behavior when other kids are inconvenienced that way and couldn't get through the lunch line," Schiff said. "Or the lunch ladies having to count thousands of pennies." He gave all the students involved two-day detentions.
The students think the punishment is unfair and say that they were just trying to make the point that the 30-minutes they are allowed for lunch isn't long enough. "There's no rule in the rule book that states that pennies can't be used to buy lunches," eighth-grader Sarah Henschel said. "We never thought they would do this. We thought they would give us a silent lunch or just yell at us."
Some parents also think a two-day detention for paying with pennies is too harsh. What do you think?
It seems that 29 eighth-graders got together and decided to all pay for their $2 lunches last Thursday with pennies. But when they all showed up with pennies in hand, the lunch ladies were not amused. "When the lunch ladies caught wind that we were all trying to pay in pennies, they were very aggravated and thought they were disrespected," says student Amanda Wolfenden.
Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff agrees that it was disrespectful to the lunch aides and the other students. "I don't think it was their intention to do much harm, but there's consequences for the behavior when other kids are inconvenienced that way and couldn't get through the lunch line," Schiff said. "Or the lunch ladies having to count thousands of pennies." He gave all the students involved two-day detentions.
The students think the punishment is unfair and say that they were just trying to make the point that the 30-minutes they are allowed for lunch isn't long enough. "There's no rule in the rule book that states that pennies can't be used to buy lunches," eighth-grader Sarah Henschel said. "We never thought they would do this. We thought they would give us a silent lunch or just yell at us."
Some parents also think a two-day detention for paying with pennies is too harsh. What do you think?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
3-02-2008 @ 10:19AM
Eva said...How is missing school for two days going to help anybody? Why are schools actively trying to keep kids from learning?
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 12:01PM
Kerri said...you're thinking of a suspension. dententions don't keep them out of school. they are usually served before or after school hours, not during.
3-02-2008 @ 10:51AM
Mel said...What I think is that the superintendent needs some more schooling:
"...there's consequences for the behavior..."
Umm. There ARE consequences.
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 5:42PM
ame s said...lol, Mel!
Some of our school board members say "liberry" and one pronounces it "libry" (long i)
3-02-2008 @ 10:55AM
mamaloo said...The last time I checked pennies were legal tender. Wouldn't it be wrong to punish people for using legal tender?
And bravo to the kids who conceived this protest! You have to agree it's quite clever. And for elementary students, doubly so!
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 11:09AM
Judy said...I was getting ready to say the same thing as Mamaloo. Pennies are legal currency. If I was one of the parents, I'd be raising a BIG stink!
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 11:14AM
ninainindia said...There is no reason for punishing the children. They tried to make a point by being clever and used legal currency to pay for their lunch. If these were my children I would not accept the suspension.
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3-02-2008 @ 12:12PM
jane said...It said they got detention not suspension. I guess they proved to all the other kids that 30 minutes isn’t enough time to eat. What about the other kids that didn’t have time to eat with the lady having to count out all those pennies for stupid kids that think they have to prove everything?
The article said they were “protesting” the shorter lunch hour on Thurs. Maybe there was an assembly or something. Whatever happened to just doing what your supposed to do? How “clever” do you think it is if your child was waiting in line for these “darling children” to have all those pennies counted? I think the better thing would have been to NOT buy the lunch that day. In my school, we only had 30 minutes to eat. I think these kids were disrespectful of the lunch staff and the kids who didn’t participate. I think all of you above who think this is okay and that pennies are “legal tender”, what if your child was one following the rules and was in the back of the line and didn’t get lunch? Is that okay?
FYI. The lunch staff has no control over how long the lunch hour is. They should have taken their pennies to the school superintendent.
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 12:33PM
isisaquaria said...Stupid kids? You know it was the same kind of people who got women the right to vote, the same kind of people who help to abolish the unjust things from our past--just because they are children protesting in a manner that disturbed they very thing they were protesting--they are stupid? PLEASE!
I too remember our lunches being 30 and too damn short. My kids ea have 45 min, although there is no pay line. I think the kids were brilliant in the approach, and the punishment is BS. Pennies are still legal tender and therefore must be accepted (even by IRS offices as payment for taxes).
3-02-2008 @ 12:50PM
Mel said...If there is one thing for certain about these kids, it is that they are NOT stupid. I have great hopes for all 29 students, particularly the one who devised the plan. Kids are no robots, nor should they be.
I have heard through the legal grapevine that there is already a huge lawsuit in the works - at least 2 very serious federal laws were breached by the school, not to mention the tort claims for false imprisonment that could result from the detentions.
Ironically, the school has been inundated with penny payments since the incident. Students, parents, and some teachers have payed for activities, library fines, field trip fees, etc. with pennies. Bravo!
3-02-2008 @ 1:38PM
jane said...Protesting is fine and but not at the expense of other’s. They held up the lines and caused a lot of problems. Oh, yes, this is the same as getting women the right to vote!!! They were mad because lunch THAT DAY was shorter. Why was it shorter just that day and what were they really protesting? Lunch isn’t the time. Lunch-aides have nothing to do with how much time they get. Why didn’t they go without lunch and picket outside instead of turning the lunchroom into chaos and causing innocent, rule abiding kids their lunch?
3-02-2008 @ 12:43PM
Suzanne said...I understand that the kids were being obnoxious. But the truth is that it's illegal to refuse to accept any form of legal tender. And pennies are still legal tender. IMO, the school goofed big time on this one.
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 1:03PM
W. H. Heydt said...Minor note...there is an upper limit for the amount that it is legal to pay with pennies. If I recall correctly, it's around $5.
(And I'm on the kids side of this...with kids like these, we have a bright future.)
Reply
3-02-2008 @ 2:00PM
Mel said...Jane, are you well? You keep saying that the students broke the rules - there was no rule broken. There is no rule, neither in the district's handbook nor in any other place, that one cannot purchase one's lunch with pennies. There is no rule, Jane. No rule means no broken rule. I also think you missed the point of the protest: the students were protesting the short lunch because they say that they don't have enough time to eat ANY day. NOT just that day.
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3-02-2008 @ 2:11PM
jane said...Are you well Mel? Of course you are. Alive and argumentative as always. Did you read the article? Of course you did. You were spewing lawsuits etc. The article says this: "Superintendent Jorden Schiff says it started out as a prank. But as the eighth-graders began to get in trouble for taking up so much time, it turned into a protest about Thursday's shortened lunch period."
Thursday's shortened lunch. If it said “everyday”, show me.
3-02-2008 @ 2:29PM
Mel said...I have read a much more detailed account of the story than the one linked. That idiot superintendent has no idea about the origin of the protest - all 29 students have agreed that the penny plan was a protest for the lunch period. The duration for lunch was a problem for them. This was just their solution. You appear to believe that the students had no issue with the lunch duration until that very day; in fact, school records (student government minutes, etc.) demonstrate that the students had long had a problem with the 30-minute lunch.
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3-02-2008 @ 3:08PM
jane said...The reason I “appear” to think there was a shorter lunch “that day” is that is what all the news accounts of this story say. If, like you say, these students have a problem eating in 30 minutes, I’m even more inclined to think they are out of line. Your telling me that with 675 students, only 29 couldn’t eat in that amount of time? Everyone I know only had half an hour to eat and we ate in 10 minutes so we could go out and play. We had to sit for 10 minutes.
These kids have every right to protest but not at the expense of all the other kids. No wonder why most lunch ladies are crabs having to deal with something that they have no control over.
3-02-2008 @ 5:58PM
isisaquaria said...regardless of other accounts--this blog says a 30 min lunch period...not just that thurs...but written to imply daily--Yes as adults, some get 30--but you are being pd to work. Although I have never worked in a place which gave lesss than an hr and my employees take between 30-hr.
Also, with adults if the line is long you can go elsewhere kids in most schools cannot. Mel is dead on on this one.
3-02-2008 @ 4:57PM
ame s said...If the pennies were not rolled, the students should have been sent to the back of the line, which would have made their eating time even shorter. Who the heck can't eat lunch in 30 minutes? Many adults only get half an hour for lunch. Besides, school isn't for socializing, it is for learning. Detention isn't warranted, in my opinion.
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3-02-2008 @ 6:13PM
isisaquaria said...My point was protesting (non-violently) sometimes changes things. These kids were not stupid, for you to imply such was--well--shall we say uncalled on your part. You do not have to agree, but to use such a word for children is just wrong.
Reply