Ever been surprised?- Here's a challenge

Today, a district of 800 or so students surprised nearly every staff member with lunch.  Sound unique or different?  Not really, but here's the twist.  (For context, I'll only be talking about our Intermediate School.  The Primary School was doing the exact same thing, just with smaller, less independent students.)  The staff, instructional and custodial, were all called by me to the office over the PA at 11:30.  The directions were simple.  There is a volunteer outside your door.  Grab your coat, leave your lunch, and meet in the front lobby.  I wish I had my phone out to capture their looks.  My memory will have to do, but it's certainly something I won't forget any time soon.

Once they all gathered, I told them to board the yellow bus, enjoy your lunch, and I'll see them at 1:00.  The looks of dismay and uncertainty and wonder were amazing.  They boarded the bus and didn't look back.  That was where the fun began!  Eighteen volunteers, one substitute, and I were now in control of 400 kids for 90 minutes, and boy were we up for the challenge.  We also had the assistance of two amazing instructional assistants, our secretary, our nurse, our cafeteria crew, and our head custodian.

The students were amazing.  These middle school students at first thought that something was wrong.  I walked into the 5th and 6th grade classrooms to let them know that the teachers would be back at 1:00.  We had just sent them out for lunch.  The 5th and 6th graders continued with their classes while the 7th and 8th grade students finished up their classes and headed to lunch at 11:44.  I had nine cafeteria and recess supervisors for 7th and 8th grade lunch and things went pretty well inside.  There is always an issue or two of something getting airborne, but we took care of that quickly.  Recess was great as the sun came out just in time.  Indoor recess would have made the 90 minutes much less enjoyable so we were all thankful for the sun.  The 7th and 8th graders came in for their 5th hour classes and the nine volunteers took over classes, which became study halls.  I visited each room, reminded them of our study hall expectations, and headed back to the cafeteria for the next lunch hour.

The 5th and 6th graders were all eating when I arrived thanks to our head custodian's assistance.  We headed outside for recess, which had a few minutes of light sprinkles, but there wasn't any way I was going to bring them inside.  The volunteers eagerly agreed with me.

At 1:00, the bus returned with the staff and the day resumed like any normal day.  Fortunately, I had a chance to eat a corn dog for lunch while I covered a Geometry class.  They were taking a quiz so I was able to write this blog post.

Why did we do this?  We did it to show the tremendous appreciation we have for what our staff do for and with our kids every day.

I would be remiss if I didn't thank our school board, our superintendent, our school psychologist, and Mary Iwanski.  They planned this whole thing for our staff and pulled it off without anyone knowing.  Could you pull this off?  Why not give it a try.  If you're willing to take the risk, reply to this blog or connect on Facebook or Twitter.  A little risk went a long way in showing our staff how much we appreciate all that they do for our students.  You can do it!