School retreat where students hunt teachers in the woods
School retreats involving student hazing activities like hunting teachers in the woods create genuine physical safety concerns and uncomfortable boundary violations. This prevents teachers from feeling secure at school events and makes normal participation impossible without compromising personal safety.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1taking a personal day off to skip the retreat
- 2calling out supervisors over the school walkie-talkie
- 3ignoring safety issues to avoid social backlash from colleagues
- 4following up with an email in writing to clarify supervision policies
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Except this is also the third time said class of older kids has left the table and been running around the playground, going up to our littles during their recess, throwing things, yelling, roughhousing, etc. And all three times there has never been any sort of supervisor outside watching them even though there are 4 assigned lunchroom supervisors, one of which is always an administrator.”source ↗
“My friend/coworker came up to me afterwards and told me I was a snitch for calling people out via walkie.”source ↗
“Admin repeatedly scolds teachers for sending a single child to the bathroom without adult supervision but this was the third time they’ve let an entire class of students spend a whole lunch period outside with no one there to watch them.”source ↗
“Some students are already openly talking about "getting" me at the retreat. I was legit concerned for my safety during this activity.”source ↗
“An unsupervised class is a ridiculous liability.”source ↗
“maybe im just a wet blanket but the hazing thing during this retreat sounds fucking weird. maybe less weird if it weren’t taking place in the woods as you put it”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 16How to handle disrespectful student micro-aggressions and boundary-crossing
- 7What do you call students who copy or police classroom instructions?
- 79Why are students behaving so badly and parents refusing accountability?
- 3How to stop hallway distractions when door windows can't be covered
- 4Fear of retaliation from admin for removing disruptive students
- 2How to prepare kids for school violence and bullying