Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ELIZABETH THIEL LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
SORRY KIDS, THE FEDS CAN'T HELP
Pick up those brooms and dishcloths, kids. The government says you can go back to work.U.S. Department of Labor officials said Friday they have no problem with Virginia Beach schools' asking elementary-school children to wipe tables and sweep floors in cafeterias.
The announcement was a complete reversal of an apparently overzealous federal investigator's earlier warning that such practices might violate child labor laws.
Margaret Elmore, an investigator in the Richmond office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, had put a Virginia Beach schools official on alert that the city could breaking the law.
Elmore, acting on at least one Virginia Beach parent's complaint, advised Anne Meek, the superintendent's special assistant, to issue criteria to principals for what kinds of simple chores children could do in school.
Traditionally, children in school systems nationwide have been asked to volunteer for routine tasks like cleaning up their class' lunchtime mess. Educators say it teaches responsibility and good citizenship.
Parents spoke up to condemn or praise the practices. At least one principal in Virginia Beach told teachers to stop asking kids to tidy the cafeteria in her school.
But on Friday, Elmore's supervisor, James W. Kight, regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in Philadelphia, announced that there was no investigation of the Virginia Beach schools, and said in a phone interview that he did not believe Virginia Beach was guilty of violations.
"Routine lunchroom-cleanup and classroom-cleanup details are permissible for short periods of time so long as they do not impair the child's safety," Kight said.