100 signatures reached
To: Palm Beach County School District
Eradicate Silent Lunch Tables
Isolated silent lunch tables are a policy practiced in Palm Beach County Schools to punish children for misbehavior. This policy does more harm than good for our children’s well-being, and ability to learn. Isolating a child to sit alone is emotionally abusive and counterproductive. Placing a child in an isolated silent table to be publicly humiliated is nothing short of inefficient. The purpose of school is to prepare children for future success, and to have engaged students so they may learn and get an education to ready them for society. Adults do not get shushed on their lunch breaks at work. It seems the adults in charge of lunch may be the ones struggling with regulating their patience. Elementary age school children do not have the ability or capacity for that type of regulation. This ridiculous policy invites many more issues. Rather than addressing the root cause by sending the child to the guidance counselor to privately discuss and address the root cause of the misbehavior- social alienation may lead to increased bad behavior and the child may begin to harbor resentment towards teachers or authority. This leads to an unproductive learning environment, and makes it much more difficult for a child to learn and succeed. Social isolation does not teach a child to learn from their mistakes. Encouraging open dialogue during lunch and providing support can help children learn from their mistakes all while maintaining their social connections. This is a prison like practice. There needs to be a major change, and that can be made possible by eradicating this embarrassing and absurd policy.
Why is this important?
This humiliating practice is detrimental to young child’s social skills, and invites bullying to the child. It creates embarrassment to the point that they may have no motivation to eat lunch. Other students may stop hanging around a child who eats at a silent table because they are now painted as a bad child who is problematic. Meal time should be social and not silent. Considering many children do not get to experience family mealtime, it should be a given right for children to have that connection with others at school lunch. Children need to develop social skills and lunchtime isolation robs them of that opportunity to build friendships and practice communication. Isolation of a child causes unnecessary feelings of anxiety and rejection. A child cannot learn when they are anxious and worried about judgment. Acceptance should be a feeling that is prioritized at our schools. When a child is repetitively isolated, the child may struggle with reintegration in social groups. Feeling like an outsider is something no child should feel or experience- especially at schools that advertise and preach inclusivity.