Lunchroom Supervision

Lunchroom supervision has recently become an issue in our district. Some elementary buildings seem to be making a move to have teachers eat lunch with their students in an effort to emulate the very successful Eat, Exercise, Excel program instituted by the staff at Anthony Elementary. This a situation that has been clearly defined by the professional negotiations act (PN Act) as well as by three separate Kansas Supreme Court rulings.

In a nutshell, lunchroom supervision, which includes having students eat in a classroom, is voluntary by virtue of the fact that is has been defined as a supplemental duty, distinct and separate from our primary teaching contract. The law also requires that remuneration for supplemental duties must be bargained.

Below is information from Lily Kober, our UniServ director:

The PN Act references supplemental duties as a mandatory subject of bargaining.

The case law is from the Kansas Supreme Court decisions: Swager, Swanson and Hachiya-Livingston.

Swager was the first. It was the case that drew a bright line between primary contracts and supplemental contracts and the fact that supplementals cannot be linked to the primary job.

Swanson was the case that determined that bargaining teams could not bargain away an individual’s right to turn down a supplemental.

Hachiya-Livingston clarified that supplementals are determined by the nature of the work and not when the work occurred.

So, just because the work, lunchroom supervision, occurs during the duty day, they still cannot force teachers to do it. The PN Act clearly lists lunchroom supervision as an example of a supplemental duty.

Below are listed the case names and numbers of the three cases:

Swager v. Board of Education USD 412
Kan. App. 2d 648 (1984)

USD 241 v. Swanson
11 Kan App. 2d 171 (1986)

Hachiya v USD 307
242 Kan. 572, 750 P. 2d 383
(This case actually involves two teachers - Robert Hachiya and Cheri Livingston - so you may see reference to the Livingston name.)

The PN Law referred to above is the Professional Negotiations Act, KSA 72-5413. Item "o" under the definitions section says:

(o) "Supplemental contracts" means contracts for employment duties other than those services covered in the principal or primary contract of employment of the professional employee, and shall include but not be limited to such services as coaching, supervising, directing and assisting extracurricular activities, chaperoning, ticket taking, lunchroom supervision, and other similar and related activities.

The fact that the above types of activities are considered mandatory subjects of bargaining means that a school district cannot unilaterally set policy regarding these activities. Supplemental contracts are voluntary, and pay for the supplemental activities must be negotiated by the two parties.

A “lunchroom,” by the way, does not necessarily have to be a cafeteria. It could be a classroom within which students eat.

As always, if you have specific questions about this information, please e-mail us: lneanews@gmail.com