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exactly, they are financially compensated to teach, not to give up their lunch breaks to watch other people's children. Besides, you are speaking of unionized employees here. Again the CCB is in place for situations exactly like this.  
 
Edited by Gussins, 2020-09-15 23:13:20

To know if all the schools in Brandon charge for lunch. I my told by a friend they don’t pay and their child and within the walking distance. The school is located in the east end . Can’t remember it tho . My kids are .2 clicks in the walking zone. Paid lunch is a joke but I do understand that teachers deserve a break to . Options for us was to pay by day, month or at the beginning of the year with a discount. We did the year to save a few bucks . And having 3 kids in school isn’t cheap . Lol

Teachers here are covered by a collective agreement in the BTA.  
It states "Every teacher shall be entitled to an uninterrupted duty free lunch period (mid-day intermission) of sixty (60) minutes, exclusive of scheduled non-contact time, between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. of each school day, unless the Brandon Teachers’ Association on behalf of a majority of teachers in a particular school and the administration responsible for that school agree to a different arrangement."  
 
As classes are scheduled differently most schools can not meet this unless the lunch hour is around 12:00 pm.  
 
As stated, the OP would have received information about the lunch program from the school info package/orientation package. It's unfortunate they missed it but now they know.  
 
So OP make a decision about what you're going to do.  
This is the way it is here in Brandon School Division.

So when they negotiated this someone thought it was ok for parents to pay out of pocket? Who is responsible for this?

You only pay out of pocket if you choose to join the lunch program.

Anyone in this thread that agrees with the OP thinks that teachers are babysitters. Change my mind.

Thinks that teachers are babysitters but this is a peculiar issue inside the city. In most other schools staff monitor students during meals on a rotational basis so that none of them have to be on duty every lunch time. If this can happen outside the city then why can such a system not be employed within Brandon School Division? It is perfectly reasonable for any employer to expect staff to be flexible with their lunch arrangements within reason and many private sector employees are expected to be available or on call outside of regular working hours on a scheduled basis.  
Does no one ever consider that parents may be overburdened, struggling to make ends meet or working with severe time constraints, that is unreasonable!

I can appreciate that life is tough for parents, for teachers, for everybody else, for those inside Brandon and those outside Brandon. However, I get a little extra tired of people trying to single out how hard it is to be a parent. It was a choice. Placing parents on a special pedestal is unreasonable.

Teachers are paid to teach your kid in class. They are not paid to babysit or supervise the kids when they are eating.  
If you want your kids to attend a school with free lunch daycare then move.

It is in teacher’s contracts in BSD to have 60 minutes of duty-free lunch.

As another poster noted . Why did BSD ever agree to such an outdated notion and why can this not be changed to fall in line with other more forward thinking school divisions?

Disagree. Parents should be placed on a pedestal for their commitment and sacrifice made to look after their children. Yes becoming a parent is a choice and not one to take lightly. It is also a choice to become a public servant with the emphasis on the word ‘serve’.

Good luck finding a teaching contract in Manitoba that does not have a duty-free lunch for teachers in it. BSD may choose to solve this differently than other divisions, but the teacher contracts are not different.

someone thought it was ok for parents to pay out of pocket. Who else should be expected to? Wow...you mean that I am financially responsible for my child? Since when? Who is responsible for this?

when is having a 60 minute lunch an outdated notion? Pretty sure the government, the Labour board, the unions, and just about every one in the world agrees with this. I'm not sure what decade or type of work you keep alluding to but teachers suffer the same stresses and time constraints as the parents you stated should be put on a pedestal and yet you expect more from them. Do you feel everyone in every profession should be willing to give up their hour of lunch, their time out, their mental relaxation, their ability to eat a meal uninterrupted, their chance to run important errands etc., because you had to? I am sensing a lack of perspective here and as another pointed out....having children is a choice.

If we want to start nickle and diming parents for lunch programs it should be fair across the board. $1.85 per day for lunch child care is affordable for most. Especially when comparing it to having to take time away from work or pay this amount. The walking distance is around 2.5km I believe. Youth walking those distances to and from for lunch leaves very little time to eat at home. Those that bus don't have to pay for lunch. Why is that? I would understand if you didn't have a school in your catchment area. But if you did and prefered another school and bused students didn't have to pay let's make it fair. How about bussed students should pay for bussing fees. And then make it all students pay for a supervised lunch program. A school with 300 students at 1.85/day is over $500 per day for supervision. Should be able to round up some part time workers for that.

"The basic premise here is that the children who cost the system the most (those that are bused) may remain at school for lunch, for free. Those that cost the system the least (school division does not have to pay for busing) are required to go home or to pay for the privilege of remaining at school. "  
 
Just letting people who are now angry at bussed students (who are able to stay for lunch free of charge) know: school taxes are based on land ownership: as farmers who own land, we pay a lot more than urban dwellers.

Isn't farming a business? Businesses in town also pay a ton of taxes too.

When I joined the workforce we were in the middle of a recession with millions unemployed and no benefit if you lost your job, we were happy to have paying work . We were entitled to breaks but if we were asked to work over lunch or a bit late we were prepared to do it to keep our jobs and it wasn’t thirty years ago.  
You didn’t argue with an employer or make demands then, you did what you were damn well told!  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-09-18 21:49:34