My goodness - with all of the other challenges facing this school (and others), and THIS is what the Superintendent is focused upon? Let the kids sit where they want with the disclaimer that they must be welcoming of any and all students who wish to join them. Certainly encourage students to mix it up a little and try to get to know others; but by forcing this assigned seating, you are only fostering resentment among the students and the parents.

I can recall in grammar school being told that "these 3 tables are for the 3rd grade, and these 3 tables are for the 4th grade..." but being assigned to a specific table at lunch? Sounds like a bad lesson in micromanagement. Surely there are more important issues to be addressed.

The real world doesn't have assigned seating. The real world is not an even playing field. The real world doesn't say "everybody's special." Please stop this downright socialist mentality. You want kids to be ready for the real world? Turn 'em loose at lunch. Let them learn there are nice peole, aggressive people, rude people -- people to be friends with and people with whom they would rather not speak.

Not a punishment? Then why when my 7th grader concerned about someone else, not herself, asked to sit by a friend who was assigned a seat all alone, was she told "Too bad, life's not fair!" by our principal that the BOE deems as acceptable and what was it that Mr. Bross said, hmmm, a "He's a person of quality, a leader of quality and he will lead us through a good educational system..." (Quoted from TriBORO article Board President: Kids Are Safe at Walter T. Bergen School, July 18, 2012) Yeah! I think NOT!!! The mission statement for the Bloomingdale Schools states, "The mission of the Bloomingdale School District is to work in partnership with students, families and the community to ensure that each student acquires skills and core values necessary to achieve personal success and to enrich the community." As parents we must ask ourselves, How exactly are our children being enriched here?????

Hahahaha! We pay this Buglione clown with his "advanced degrees" in education a six-figure salary to spend his days organizing assigned lunchtime seating instead of focusing on this abysmal school system's real issues?! Hahahaha!

I have to laugh or I will cry.

Tell your kids to get used to it! The principal who said "life's not fair, get used to it" should get a meta!. Hes telling the kids the TRUTH! Life ISNT fair... shut up, sit down and eat...theyre 12 for gods sake.. the world doesnt revolve around them. Better they learn that NOW before its too late. If my kids EVER came home and complained about assigned seating for lunch I dont know if Id laugh or cry.

The same parents that think this is a big deal are the same ones that prob complain about too much homework, a teacher not letting little Johnny make up homework he missed when everyone else did it, bitch at the teacher cause little Mary failed, or wont let their angel have his cell phone in class.
I truly feel sorry for parents who let their 12 year olds control their lives.

I also love that Federici thinks that TWELVE YEARS OLD is TOO LATE to start socializing! so sad

It's not Mr. Buglione and it was apparent at the meeting that he was unaware that the principal was telling the kids that it is punishment. When the kids asked on day one of this how long this will last, they were told until you learn to clean up after yourselves and behave. Of course us parents weren't there but many of the students claim this was said.

I do believe the Mission statement and the local codes need to be read .The past violations are so damming the board should be thanking god the schools still open ,along with our amazing staff that walk around in looking in shock and still caring for our children they should be handed awards .

THE SOCIAL TIME OUT SIDE IS FOR 5--7 MIN YES THAT IS MIN

Please stop the complaining and focus on other things that matter. What is the big deal about assigned seating, kids are assigned seats in the classroom are you going to petition that too! To you it maybe a punishment, but maybe it's not a bad idea because it dissolves the clicks that exist and allows students to get to know other students! I always try to tell my daughter to make others feel comfortable and not to alienate them! Try talking to others, and help them. So please spend your time in trying to get promethean boards for the teachers or projectors because teachers need the proper tools to better educate your kids!

(Warden) "Buglione said he thinks the assigned seating could help prepare the students for when they are thrown into other situations where they have to interact with people they do not know".

"Warden", for your information they use lock seating in prison chowhalls but not for the same reason you cite. It's for control. If that's your train of thought then you truly are preparing the students for when they are thrown into other situations - like a county jail or state prison. Next, you'll probably have them line up with their right hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of them and shuffle in unison like the old prison flicks.

DUHHHHH. I believe it's the parents that think assigned seating is an issue need to have assigned seating themselves or a major "time out". As your behavior is totally unacceptable - what is wrong with you??? The school is trying to keep some order in the lunch room because of the way in which YOU have raised your child. You say "oh my child does not do that"........... GROW UP PEOPLE and appreciate what the school is doing that you are not. Many say oh we never had assigned seating when we were in school......... yeah your right and you also didn't behave like your child behaves either. Times have changed and so have the rules. Now let the school and teachers do their job and educate your children and let the BOE do their job as well instead of having to deal with this petty crap. FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS AND MOVE ON !!! Kudo's to the District - stand firm and don't let the parents get the best of you as you are doing the right thing for the students of Bloomingdale.

In our middle school, the kids have a few days at the beginning of the marking period to choose their own seats and decide on their table. Then the table is "locked in" for the marking period. At the next marking period, they can start over again if they want, or they can stay with the same group. The do occasionally have "mix it up" days where they are told where to sit for social activities during lunch, but otherwise this seems like a great plan.

I hope Federici is not right that it is too late to make new friends by 7th grade!!!
The article states that this is something the school has decided to "try". It's obviously not written in stone, and since school just started, why doesn't everyone just calm down and allow them to give it a try? The article also states that tables will be switched around during the year. This all seems like much ado about very little. There are possibly some very positive sides to this. At least there won't be any children left out and there also won't be any of the potential behavioral-problem clicques. Why not allow it to be tried before flying off the handle? You can always complain later if it doesn't succeed and, as others have said, there are more important issues to be addressed than this! I get the feeling that certain children are leading their parents around by the noses and perhaps are scared they won't be able to survive without their familiar friends. Those are probably the very kids who will benefit by this experiment.

We have all been created equally, but we haven't been created in the same way. Some have wheelchairs, and some have different ways of thinking, and they can both cause anxiety. No one person can say that they understand. Some may not be comfortable with conversations that occur between preadolescents. Children are all at different levels of maturity. Our community has learned that speaking is a good way to get kids to socialize, but we don't all agree that our children should have a choice between doing so or not. Would you all like to never have the choice of who you sit with? Maybe some other choice has to be made, where a parent would normally say to just 'shut up and deal with it.' I hope that, for your child, they have more sense than those parents.

The majority of the comments online are saying that this new rule is to help kids socialize, and to make them feel more comfortable. However, that's not the case for many students. Many students, including me, have more than just 'uncomfortable experiences' at school. Many students suffer from social anxiety disorder, among other disorders. Social anxiety is emotionally crippling. It's not something that you just 'get used to' easily. It has taken me five years of therapy and two years of medication just to be able to TALK to others at school. Many can't imagine how I, and many others, were thrown off from the very first day of school, when their homeroom teacher said that we'd have assigned seats at lunch. It won't matter whether someone with this disorder is sitting with the most mature, wonderful people in the school, or the students that aren't as mature. If they are thrown into a situation like this AT ALL, they're going to spiral downwards. Would you be content, knowing that there are dozens of children in the school that are going to go in this downward spiral because of this? With something like taking away the assigned seating at lunch, it gives all of these children, and their parents, a peace of mind that they had lost the moment they learned of this rule. If you want students to feel safe and secure, let them sit where they'd like to sit. Some things, like this, aren't easy for people this young to 'get over.'

Those are good points you make.
I was thinking from another point of view that a kid who is alone in the cafeteria--perhaps friendless--might be helped by the "assignment". I guess there are pros and cons, depending on the kid. It's just an experiment anyway, from what the article says. They will need to evaluate. I don't think it's cause for panic in any event.

hey Ann please don't make so little of others it is very sad to see your truth

hey, Wendy
I didn't make "little of others". I specifically said "those are good points".
I was only expressing where my point of view originated and that was in caring about some child who might be friendless--who might be eating lunch alone.
Have a nice day and stay connected.

I have a few children in WTB, I understand parents feeling the way they feel and they are entitled to there opinion. I personally think that there is nothing wrong with it. My kids don't seem to be bothered by it. That lunch room is "chaotic". When you have groups of kids that are all friends sitting together "socializing" it gets loud, things get out of hand and it causes problems. My kids don't go to school to "socialize" they go to learn. Follow rules..sit where you are told to and do what you are told. Assigned seating isnt they end of the world and Im sorry but parents should focus there energy on important things like the "crap" they are serving our kids to "socialize" . I mean, CMON! If your child comes home complaining about seating..its tough. That is life. Its not Burger King, You can't always have it your way. The lunch room needs to be orderly and if this is the way they choose to do it..then so be it. I do understand the anxiety that some kids feel. Being left out, having anxiety, but then talk them through it. Let them know that its the rules and just to enjoy your lunch and be nice to there neighbors and if you have a problem with a student to let me know and I will have your seat changed. I cant see a child needing "therapy" over assigned seating at school. Jesus..imagine if we had REAL problems in our school...focus your energy somewhere else parents.

No I completely understand and as i said "everyone is entitled to there opinion" as I am entitled to mine. I just think that Bloomingdale Schools have BIGGER problems than seating. Improper doors being installed, equipment laying all over our field that is a mess, our state testing scores being Low. Not seating. So I dont need to understand, I do understand, completely. I just choose to focus on more important topics. Thats all.

There's a problem with this experiment and how it will have to be evaluated...the longer you keep someone with social anxiety in an uncomfortable situation, the worse it gets. Giving this experiment time will only make children with this disorder feel worse, which can lead to panic attacks, the inability to function properly, even outside of social situations, and depression, among other horrible symptoms, according to webmd.com. Children that are 'friendless' will possibly be affected negatively, also. Students don't like the new assigned seats, so they're not going to cooperate very easily. From what I've seen, I highly doubt that these friendless children are going to be any more conversational than they were before. The students that are more conversational probably won't become any more socilble than before, either. Kids don't like rules. They're not going to just 'deal with it,' so the children with anxiety will only get worse (and it happens quickly, also), the unsocial children will be unaffected, and the children with friends will become less social because of their separation from their old friends.

WAY too many "well what ifs" and " maybes". Life is FULL of maybes. Life is FULL of what ifs. You can't live your life constantly worried about EVERY little thing that MIGHT happen.
For all you whiny parents with your NEGATIVE what ifs...there is a flip side POSITIVE what if.
MAYBE your kid will make a friend
MAYBE. Your kid will rise to the occasion
MAYBE your kid will LEARN something from the experience
MAYBE your kid will see its not so bad
Stop with the NEGATIVE what ifs and try some POSITIVE ones for a while.

More government control. How is it possible that we were able to go through school without these insane rules? AND, we could go out and play. These school administrators are all bred from the same cloth. They are power hungry scum.

This is a horrible idea.

What the hell has happened to the America I grew up in?? How is it that these academics don't see this is socialism? Hasn't history taught them anything??

The Super is right on with this. The Schools are ineffective in preventing bullying and are handcuffed by the law. I also think they need to have school uniforms as well. It is time for parents to wake up and recognize school is for learning in safe environment and kids need to be taught what is not being taught at home. Kids need to be taught to respect everyone regardless of how they dress, look, interests they have on and on, Parents are too busy teaching their kids in tolerance of others and how to be disrespectful. So if the parents do not do their job and schools are handcuffed it is time to change what does not work.

Most of the parents who spoke at the meeting have high achieving and well behaved children so any comment that they cannot teach their kids how to behave etc is nonsense. I told my son on day one to wait it out and see how it goes even though I could not for the life of me understand why assigned lunchroom seating would be necessary anywhere but a prison. At the BOE meeting we were told it was implemented to help socialization...well I as a taxpayer feel that our $114k+benefits per year would be better spent addressing the curruculum that was not updated at all last year, in fact for MANY years!!! I expect any administrator in my town to make wise, well thought out decisions based on tried and true methods...not "experimenting" with our children and thinking up and implementing silly rules like last year's no water bottles and now assigned lunchroom seating. I also expect intelligent answers to questions other than "because I am principal." Last year the teachers made it clear they had no confidence in the principal as a leader, I've heard many parents complain about him at the meetings (although they get cutoff and told to stop trying to discuss personnel) and clearly the students do not have a role model when he greets them in the hallway with "Waaaassssup?" I don't think Waaaassssup will be on the NJASK Test. I am surprised that the petition wasn't to fire the principal...it probably would have garnered more signatures.

Everyone has a right to their opinion – I would just like to say that the many of the kids that I have spoken to, including my own, feel that the assigned seats in the cafeteria is a punishment. The idea of assigned seats is from the principal, NOT the superintendent. Due to a handful of kids that might be considered bad, the principal has assigned seats for lunch. The kids are assigned to a table regardless if they have friends there or not. The problem with this is the majority of these kids ARE good kids. They get good grades, they aren’t in trouble, they don’t receive detentions, etc. but yet they are the ones that have to sit without their friends, sit with kids that overpower them, sit with kids that make them feel uncomfortable. What does that do to help these kids overcome their shyness? Their anxiety?

This "social experiment" seems like it's going to be someone's college thesis. I guess he or she didn't have the heart or the money to try this experiment on guinea pigs.

Learning to make and keep friends is part of growing up, and it's great to see youngsters learning the right way to peacefully petition for rights and privileges. This process is really a key part of what America is all about, and it's never to early to teach this.

compassion is the only answer,we all need to remember this well paid person, knows how to use lawyers to use scare tactics towards parents , he begs to differ ,makes alot of money, and has little concern for the disabled