Carol:

I would go to the Principal and talk frankly. Our staff is wonderful, as is the Principal. But there are always a couple of belly achers. I would make sure that it was only a few and if it was more than I would tell the Principal that your group will just stick to just doing things directly related to the kids - Assemblies, education events, fun family events. I would even consider nixing teacher wish lists and free classroom books.

Just remember, what you guys did was out of affection and respect for all the right reasons.

It is too bad some people can't accept things in the spirit in which they are given.

The Teacher Appreciation Week was the same week as our SOL's and this is a VERY STRESSFUL time for them. They are mostly on edge and crabby ! BUT this week's events brought their spirits up ! We had a 'Buffet of Salads' held in the conference room (I reserved it 2 months prior) so we wouldn't take up their space to sit down and enjoy. This time we had no complaints. I say have the principal speak to them about their rudeness and definitely do the survey (I like that idea). Administration does play a key role in their staff's attitudes. I would speak to my employees if they were rude.

My first thought is have your teacher reps find out what the real problem is. Have things happened in the past that the teachers don't want you in their way? I can't imagine that they are this way without some issues in the past.

We also had our appreciation week last week. Our staff is very welcoming. We do something everyday, and when we bring in lunch, we have volunteers that work the class rooms for a short time so the staff can enjoy an extended lunch. Our staff is very supportive and our teacher reps and priciple are great to work with.

At our schools teacher appreciation lunch everyone just drops stuff off, the committee chairs set it out at lunch time and the staff just serves themselves. After the lunch break time, one of the chairs comes back and cleans up.

I realize that you are addressing the issue of complaining for a stupid reason but the above would be an easy solution. Our teachers have a pretty short lunch break and the buffet style set us just makes sense for our group. just my 2 cents.

How many complaints did you get? If its just a few chalk it up to some ungrateful rude adults.....Look at the big picture when you get complaints, if you do that it makes it feel like the complaints are no big deal

Obviously, their gratitude knows no bounds [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Seriously, my first angry reaction would be to just forget the whole thing but you don't want to foster anymore hard feelings and make things even worse. Even though they are completely ungrateful and possibly even unworthy of your gratitude, take the high road. Assume that their intentions were misunderstood and perhaps circulate a teacher's survey. Include in the survey, "to avoid difficulties, inconvenience and/or hurt feelings, would you prefer not to have a staff appreciation luncheon and if you do, where would you like to have it done?" Something like that, it addresses their concerns, acknowledges that you heard them oh so loud and clear and gives them the option of opting out or changing the location.
Suggest alternative options such as the library or the multipurpose room.
It's a sad situation, I can only imagine what other problems you may have had...