Perhaps there is no human imperative stronger than the instinct to protect our children. This means keeping a watchful eye on them and making sure that they are not exposed to the influence of strangers who conceivably might do them harm.
An editorial “Manheim Township ban on lunch visits a puzzler” opens:
“In a move said to be aimed at student safety, Manheim Township School District next month will impose a ban on parents joining their children for lunch on school grounds. An exception can be made for National School Lunch Week, but that’s about it.
“The specter of “unsupervised visitors” roaming the halls, references to the shooting spree that left 20 students and six teachers dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and general references to student safety are the explanations given for the ban
“A number of commonsense factors weighing against these explanations cause many parents to suspect there’s more behind the ban, perhaps one or more incidents at one or more of the district’s schools.”
Given the scarcity of resources due to continuing funding cut backs over the past five years, are the schools to assign staff to check the identities of parents and guardians who choose to join their children for lunch?
Are other children to be exposed to non-school district adults who just happen to be parents or guardians
The editorial conditions “On the district’s website, under the heading, “Volunteer Information,” the district appears to take a more welcoming view of parents. There’s the note indicating that not all adult volunteers need to get fingerprinted before helping out on school trips and at school events.
“Then the district says, ‘Thank you for choosing to be a volunteer in our district! Many events and programs could not happen without the help of volunteers.’
Volunteers are informally vetted, their interaction with children limited, and their presence anticipated, their functions limited, and they work with and are monitored by trained school personnel.
Sorry New Era editor: The act of procreation does not qualify just any parent, including the most undesirable members of society, to hang around our grandchildren during the lunch hour. Our children deserve to be secure in a closely monitored and disciplined school environment. And our schools need to use their scarce resources for education, not screening and monitoring visitors.
We salute Superintendent Gene Freeman for his concern and prudent precautions.
