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Dad Sues Over School Lunch Seating Restriction
WNBC Television ^ | 5/20/2004 | Puppage

Posted on 05/20/2004 10:50:06 AM PDT by Puppage

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Twelve-year-old Gianna LoPresti wants to sit with her friends in the cafeteria. But she may need a permission slip -- from a judge, that is.

At Galloway Township Middle School, students must sit in the seats they're assigned to during lunch hour. The girl, a seventh-grader, has been cited three times for violating the policy.

Now, her father is suing the school, saying the rule violates First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

"These are kids," said Giovanni LoPresti, 40. "It's not a prison."

School officials say the restrictions are aimed at keeping order in a lunchroom buzzing with 260 seventh- and eighth graders.

The dispute began two weeks ago when the girl returned home from school and told her father she'd been given detention.

"I thought she'd done something drastic," said her father. "I said `You had to have done something.' She said she sat with her friends and socialized at lunch."

The girl was found sitting in a seat she had not been assigned to and was given three detentions -- one for each week she had done it. Lunchtime detention consists of eating lunch in a classroom, under a teacher's supervision, away from the cafeteria.

LoPresti says the restriction is unfair because it assumes all students are potential troublemakers.

The girl, who has been punished previously for talking in class and once throwing a calculator onto a desk, is no troublemaker, according to her father.

On Monday, he filed suit in Superior Court seeking an injunction barring the school district from enforcing the policy.

School officials say the seating restriction has been in place for years and that parents are advised of it through student handbooks sent home at the start of the school year.

"The students are allowed to move around the cafeteria," said Schools Superintendent Doug Groff. "All they have to do is ask permission from teachers or the principal. It's not that they're restricted. It's just decorum."

Typically, the cafeteria has up to 260 students in it during lunch periods, he said.

"Normally, parents understand that we need some rules in schools. They expect that and they have an expectation. If you let kids wander wherever they wanted, the parents would say 'What kind of school are you running? You let the kids run wherever they want,"' Groff said.

Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's New Jersey chapter, would not comment on the legal merits of the girl's case.

She said free speech has restrictions as to time, manner and place, but that enforcing assigned seating in a school cafeteria was unusual.

"It sounds like an excessive restriction. I'm not aware of other schools with 260 kids who have resorted to this. This sounds overreaching to me," she said.

Typically, school principals -- not school boards -- make such policies for their buildings, according to Michael Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

"Our sense is that it's not uncommon to have assigned tables or rules saying students can't roam about the cafeteria. The courts have typically given wide latitude to school administrators to maintain order and discipline," Yaple said.

Frank Askin, director of the Constitutional Law Clinic at Rutgers University's Newark campus, questioned whether LoPresti has a legitimate First Amendment claim.

"I certainly wouldn't want to take his case," said Askin.

In fact, no one has. LoPresti is acting as his own attorney.

Though she hasn't served the lunchtime detentions yet, his daughter said it's wrong for the school to tell her where to sit.

"I think the school thinks the students are going to cause trouble at lunch. It's wrong to punish the kids who do nothing. We need to talk to our friends during lunch," Gianna LoPresti said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: lawsuit
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To: Xenalyte
Boxers are not really that large. A little smaller than German Shepherds. But they are larger than Dobermans. Adult males are about 22 to 25 inches at the shoulder. Females are about 21 to 23 inches.

They don't really act like a big dog when indoors. They curl up and don't take too much space and they are VERY clean.

This is a blurb from the AKC description of Boxers. It is very accurate:

The Boxer is a playful and fun-loving dog, who is also capable of communicating his feelings with his face. His twinkling black eyes show his intelligence and emotions. His face wrinkles up into expressions of curiosity, excitement, happiness, surprise, or sadness. Boxers particularly love children. They are playful and patient, but are also strong and defensive, so early obedience training is important.

The Boxer is an alert, self-assured, and fearless dog.

The Boxer is a playful and fun-loving dog who is often called the "Peter Pan" of the dog world as they seem to maintain that youthful exuberance.

With family and friends, his temperament is fundamentally playful, yet patient and stoical with children. Deliberate and wary with strangers, he will exhibit curiosity but, most importantly, fearless courage if threatened. However, he responds promptly to friendly overtures honestly rendered. His intelligence, loyal affection and tractability to discipline make him a highly desirable companion.


181 posted on 05/20/2004 1:23:27 PM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Bikers4Bush
"What I learned was, the key to maintaining control is to have a simple, clearly spelled-out set of rules, and rigidly enforce them."

Not according to you.

I can discern the difference between having rigid boundaries, but a wide range of freedom within those boundaries, and having a multiplicity of rules greatly reducing the scope of freedom.

Apparently you cannot.

Hey, if 20 rules are good, 200 must be better, right?

I'm curious as to your position on helmet laws.

182 posted on 05/20/2004 1:23:46 PM PDT by malakhi (America was founded by those who mistrusted authority.)
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To: netmilsmom
I've been on both sides of this. I've had teachers and professors I've highly respected. Others I haven't. In high school I'll admit I had a bit of a mouth(took a 3 day out for swearing(louder than I though) about a detention I got that lacked consistancy.). Respect doesn't always mean like. I've had some teachers who ran the class almost like a stereotypical old style Catholic school room. She wasn't always liked, but there wasn't many complaints in that class through. Everything was set in stone and it was consistant. We all learned something too. Others were more easy going and were real nice. This teacher was respected too. We all liked the guy and didn't want to make him mad. We always stayed on schedule.

Then there's the dummy who doesn't teach anything and yells at the class. He once called my parents for misbehaving. One problem though. I wasn't in that class that day because of another school project. I have no respect for idiots like that. I may play along with the system at times, but there's no respect.

When I coached, I worked to earn the players' respect. Some areas I was more lax than others. Other areas I was a hardliner. I was consistant from day 1. The players knew what I expected.

How many jobs will they keep if they do what they want when they want and not follow the proper procedure?

They will real quick when it's paycheck time. Everyone respects a paycheck.

183 posted on 05/20/2004 1:25:16 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America being passive. They were wrong.” - Reagan)
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To: ChinaThreat

Did you forget your sarcasm tags?

Or do you believe all of society ought to be structured like a prison.

I suppose that IS the American puritan utopian totalitarian viewpoint, but those freaks are at The DUmpster, not here.


184 posted on 05/20/2004 1:25:40 PM PDT by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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To: VRWC_minion
And it earns it by establishing clear cut expectations and clear cut consequences.

Agreed.

185 posted on 05/20/2004 1:25:52 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America being passive. They were wrong.” - Reagan)
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To: Xenalyte
Also, how large are they as puppies?

Puppy size.

They are medium sized pups. But, they are very tough and love to play rough and rowdy.

186 posted on 05/20/2004 1:26:14 PM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Puppage
"These are kids," said Giovanni LoPresti, 40. "It's not a prison."

The prison part is debatable.

187 posted on 05/20/2004 1:26:25 PM PDT by cruiserman
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To: ShadowDancer

>>Strict rules in the lunchroom and life is easier for the teachers.
As well it should be.<<

I don't get why some of the people on this thread think that teachers should not get a lunch. When my daughter was in school, I volunteered three times a week to be "lunch mom" to give my teacher a break. She had a horrid class as it was and I wanted her relaxed for the afternoon so my daughter would actually learn something


188 posted on 05/20/2004 1:28:22 PM PDT by netmilsmom (Supporting our troops, 5/27 - M59 & Old Van Dyke! Yoller if you see us!)
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To: netmilsmom

I would LOVE for some people on this thread to teach a class for a week or two.


189 posted on 05/20/2004 1:29:17 PM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Skooz; Xenalyte
Boxers arte incredibly bright, but incredibly stupid sometimes. :-)

We need to start an FR Boxer Club. :-)

190 posted on 05/20/2004 1:30:31 PM PDT by Bella_Bru (It's for the children = It takes a village)
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To: zook

The public schools won't be able to use that tired old whine, "but they don't socialize" when discussing homeschooling anymore.

Some district tried a silent lunch in my state, but the resulting publicity made them change their minds pronto.

I would not like to be a kid in public school today for many, many reasons, the least of which is this lunch policy.


191 posted on 05/20/2004 1:31:28 PM PDT by ladylib
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To: Bella_Bru
Who could resist this?
192 posted on 05/20/2004 1:31:30 PM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Dan from Michigan

>>Then there's the dummy who doesn't teach anything and yells at the class. He once called my parents for misbehaving. One problem though. I wasn't in that class that day because of another school project. I have no respect for idiots like that. I may play along with the system at times, but there's no respect. <<

Oh that's just lame. What an idiot!

>>How many jobs will they keep if they do what they want when they want and not follow the proper procedure?

They will real quick when it's paycheck time. Everyone respects a paycheck.<<

Oh I don't know. Ever work retail? Some of those darlings that work at Meijer and constantly complain that they are over worked (in front of the customers) as they socialize instead of packing my bags, are like this kid. They are owed a paycheck just because they graced the employer with their lovely selves.


193 posted on 05/20/2004 1:36:29 PM PDT by netmilsmom (Supporting our troops, 5/27 - M59 & Old Van Dyke! Yoller if you see us!)
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To: Xenalyte

I'm sorry. I meant to ping you to 192 also.


194 posted on 05/20/2004 1:36:31 PM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: malakhi

They had ONE rule, sit in your assigned seat unless you ask for permission to move. How is that 200 rules?

I think helmet laws are good for novice riders but are garbage for the rest of us who are experienced enough to know the risks we are taking. And if someone who is supposed to wear their helmet gets caught without one guess what? they get a ticket and have to pay a fine. There's no whining about it infringing on free speech. If you don't like the law or the rule get it changed. If you ignore it and get caught then you have to face the music.

That differs greatly from being a child in a lunchroom and if you can't tell the difference then I am at a loss.


195 posted on 05/20/2004 1:38:24 PM PDT by Bikers4Bush (Flood waters rising, heading for more conservative ground. Vote for conservatives!)
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To: Skooz; Bella_Bru
That is just DARLING!

Boxers sound better and better. Since Salty has dominance and aggression issues, we're thinking maybe we should consider rescuing a grown-up Boxer. We know we need a girl; Salty is quite the ladies' man and gets along far better with the chicks than with the dudes.
196 posted on 05/20/2004 1:43:00 PM PDT by Xenalyte (I may not agree with your bumper sticker, but I shall defend to the death your right to stick it)
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To: Skooz
They are so noble looking,m but really...they act like clowns. :-)

My folks never had our Boxers ears cropped though. So they alway looked like permanent puppies.

197 posted on 05/20/2004 1:43:19 PM PDT by Bella_Bru (It's for the children = It takes a village)
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To: Skooz; Bella_Bru

Oh my God... Those are so adorable!


198 posted on 05/20/2004 1:46:09 PM PDT by StoneColdGOP (McClintock - In Your Heart, You Know He's Right)
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To: netmilsmom
I agree with you completely about the spoiled brat thing, and certainly, this is not a matter to take to court, but on the other hand, this story surprised me. When I went to grade school in northwestern Indiana in the mid '60s, we were forbidden to talk in the lunch lines, the hallways, or even the cafeteria. They didn't assign seats, but I guess it doesn't make sense to do that if you're not allowed to talk to anyone, anyway.

I regarded this as quite totalitarian, and was relieved to see that the local junior high did not practice it, too.

199 posted on 05/20/2004 1:53:40 PM PDT by hunter112
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To: Bikers4Bush
They had ONE rule, sit in your assigned seat unless you ask for permission to move. How is that 200 rules?

Yes, this is ONE stupid, unnecessary rule. One of MANY, undoubtedly, in this school.

I think helmet laws are good for novice riders but are garbage for the rest of us who are experienced enough to know the risks we are taking.

So ... ALL riders should not be forced to wear helmets, just because SOME riders are inexperienced?

and if you can't tell the difference then I am at a loss.

Likewise, if you can't see the similarity.

200 posted on 05/20/2004 1:57:15 PM PDT by malakhi (America was founded by those who mistrusted authority.)
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