At my last school I think you could technically leave dring lunch, but no one except the paras ever did.
At this new school a co-worker told me that you can leave during prep and lunch and you don't need to sing out either. She said she asked the office staff at the beginning of the year and they laughed and told her that she didn't need to sign out.
I leave pretty frequently during my prep to get things for the classroom like snack (we still do snack time in kindergarten), materials that I need for a lesson like paintbrushes, and sometimes I go and get a coffee if I'm in the store already. I've seen two other teachers on my grade level do it, sometimes freuqently and other times rarely.
I was totally confident in leaving then last week I had a mini panic about it and was like...what if you're not supposed to and the office staff are judging me or reporting it to the P? I don't go and do random things, it's always for my classroom and I don't linger or anything. But now I'm curious.
Can you leave during your prep and lunch, and if so, is it okay or frowned upon?
Lunch yes, prep no. No one cares if you leave at lunch but you do need to sign out. We are a rural school and the nearest town is about 5 minutes away. We only have a 30 minute lunch. It isn't a relaxing lunch time if I leave personally.
No written rule at our school, but I let the office know any time I left the campus. Thinking of fire drill where everyone has to be accounted for or God forbid another disaster.
I could leave at lunch but it is small town with ZERO fast food places (unless you count Casey's convenience stores or the hot bar at a truck stop.)
Prep/Plan Time is considered school time, not free time.
Either way, I do call the office to "check out" when I leave for liability purposes.
If I needed to leave on plan time for school related issues, like you mentioned in your post, I would not even hesitate. If it is personal, it try to keep it infrequent and short.
The only school that I ever did this at was my first school. I was a single mom (daughter was a baby through three years old) and I was frazzles sometimes and would forget to pack a lunch. I'd step out and get a lunch and bring it back to my class.
Now I don't (although I don't know why) so it's interesting to see how many people leave. That's awesome!
We can leave whenever we aren't scheduled to be with students, but we have to tell the front office so that they know we're not in the building.
I don't do it very often to pick up stuff for class because it wastes time driving rather than getting it after school on my way somewhere else, but occasionally I just have to get out of there and will go get Starbucks or a coke or something.
We can but most teachers do not. We are supposed to let the office know. I think of drill/lockdown issues or if needed for other reasons. And I always worry, what would happen if I got into an accident?
Prep Time: We sometimes leave if we need to do something school related, and we have done other things when we ask first to make sure it is okay. Neither situation is done regularly.
Lunch Time: No. However, we can’t get somewhere, get food, and get back during our 20 minute lunch. We are rural.
We have to supervise students during lunch, so we can't leave then.
The P has told us before that our "planning time" is just that - a time to plan - not an "off time". So no, we're not allowed to leave. I don't know where I'd go anyway. Any place I need to go I'd just go after school. We also are a rural school, so there aren't many places I could get to and back quickly.
We have to sign out any time we leave (prep or lunch) but just in case of a shelter in and they need to call us. No one looks at the book. I know some who leave every day. I leave every Friday for pizza Friday with a few coworkers
We have to sign out- we're told this is for safety reasons so that if there is an emergency they know who is in the building. As far as I know, it's never been used against anyone.
Back in the day, we had 50 minutes for lunch time and my teammates and I would go pick something up for lunch somewhat frequently (2-3x per week). So unhealthy and expensive. Our lunch is now 40 minutes and because I teach sped, my teammates and I aren't teaching the same things/don't have the same schedule. This year we weren't able to work it out to have the same lunch time. While I miss the days of a long lunch and time with my teammates, I don't miss the temptation to go get a high calorie lunch out. Expectations/work load has also risen exponentially over the past couple of years. I now work through lunch so that I don't have to stay late.
I think we're technically allowed to leave during our plan time, but I wouldn't unless I had a very good/specific reason. Since it's supposed to be time for planning and not a "break" I'd worry about the optics of doing something like going out for a Starbucks or something.
We are allowed to leave during our prep/lunch as long as our class is covered and we are signed out. Unless it's school-related, we aren't supposed to be gone for longer than our lunch period time (30 minutes). But we are allowed to leave to buy things for our lessons, etc and that doesn't count. We do have to sign out so that the admin knows we are out of the building (in case of emergency).
I am really surprised by some of the responses on this thread. I have worked in 3 districts and at each one I was allowed to leave during both my prep and my lunch. One was extremely rural (think nothing within 20 minutes) so there wasn't really anywhere to go. I do know one teacher lived near by and left to take her dog out. As far as I know there was never any sign out policy either. At the current district many teachers leave during their lunch and several teachers leave sometimes during their prep. People run to the post office, run home, pick up things from the nearby Dollar Tree for their class, etc. Administration has never asked for anyone to sign out as far as I know. People even borrow the school's pCard to make school authorized purchases. One teacher purchases diapers on her prep for a student sometimes.
How is it legal (and okay in a teacher's contract) that some people are expected to supervise students and only prep during their prep time as well? How is it legal to have no break the entire work day? I thought it was required people who worked more than 5 hours had at least a 15 minute break. Maybe teachers are exempt from some of these rules. Just doesn't seem like a good practice on the part of the school. Teaching is *hard*. Not having even a few minutes to decompress during the day seems unhealthy. Also doesn't seem like it would lead to productivity. Some of the most productive tech companies are actually shortening work hours and providing leisure activities in the work place. Things like video games, ping pong tables, board games, TVs, etc.
We can leave at lunch and sign out and in. We can’t leave during our prep without permission from P. If we had to take care of something and leave during our prep they don’t have a problem if we tell them.
There's no reason I couldn't, but our school is very rural. Where would I go? By the time I got to town, did whatever, and came back, lunch would be long over.
yes--we are allowed to--people do it with some regularity.
I have run errands a few times in my many many years at my school--don't always check out but do TELL SOMEONE--just in case there is an accident and I don't make it back...
We can’t leave during either time unless we take leave. During lunch not much could be accomplished anyhow outside of the building in the time we have. I am only about 4 minutes from home so I suppose they would let me run home and get something if I needed to do so.
I’m elementary. MS and HS teachers seem to get quite a bit more leeway. I know one who goes home each day to let her dog out. Others leave if their classes are done before the last period.
At all my former schools, we had to sign out and in to leave at lunch. However, with the almost 20 minutes we got and the rural location of schools, there was no time. Prep was always outside of school hours (after school), so we had to get special permission to leave early. No one was coming back after that, usually.
We can leave for either prep or lunch. We have lots of places we can go. Fast food, stores, etc. We don’t have a sign out sheet but at my last school (same district) we did. It was just for emergency purposes.
Often teachers run out of coffee on their prep. If you don’t have meetings or kids ... it’s fine.
and pick up some carry out at lunch. Leaving during prep is frowned upon except in the case of an emergency. We have a teacher that kept leaving during her prep time to go grocery shopping. There was a problem with her class in a special and they were looking for her and calling all over the school on the PA trying to find her. I think she got in trouble for it. She is a piece of work in many ways, and that is a perfect example. She had no clue either.
Lunch? Definitely. People leave all the time and there’s plenty of places within 5 min or so- dunks, mcdonalds, Walgreens, cvs, 7-11, banks, dry cleaners, a couple sub shops, Chinese food, etc. I don’t often leave because it’s kind of annoying by the time i go out to pick up something I don’t usually have time to eat it. Occasionally I’ll run out for a coffee.
Prep? Well most days our prep is from 8-840 which is before students arrive. Only once every 6 school days do I have prep during the day. Normally I wouldn’t leave. However last week I had forgotten some supplies I needed for a science experiment so I planned to run out while my kids had music. Lucky me that was the day they had it. I did run that by the office and of course it was no issue.
for lunch, just sign out and back in. During prep it doesn't seem to have a real rule, teachers do bring it to the attention of the office if they leave during prep just in case someone is looking for them.
We sign out only because of the new safety regulations since now there needs to be an accurate account of all people in the building at all times. All volunteers, visitors, workers etc. need to sign in and then sign out.
> 
02-26-2020, 08:40 AM
There was a problem with her class in a special and they were looking for her and calling all over the school on the PA trying to find her. I think she got in trouble for it. She is a piece of work in many ways, and that is a perfect example. She had no clue either.
