Coffee shop in high school

[amatahrain]

I just read in our local paper that our high school now has a coffee bar in the library. They are serving lattes, hot chocolate, tea and coffee. I am dumb founded by this. Do your local schools have coffee shops?

[Green_Tea]

Not that I know of, but when I was in HS, students could buy coffee in the cafeteria. I assume they still can. Coffee beverages are a big thing teenagers in my area.

[MontrealMum]

Not in the schools, no, but this is a current trend in public libraries...the library as community center and trying to combine multiple uses in the same space.

[Kindra178]

I don't think so but it seems like a great idea. Very OC. Plus, I am always in line at my local Starbucks (high school has an open campus) and I am stuck in line with a zillion teenagers ordering very complicated drinks. If they could buy their fancy drinks at school, they don't have to clog the line so I can get my Venti Dark quickly.

[pinkmomagain]

I don't think so but it seems like a great idea. Very OC. Plus, I am always in line at my local Starbucks (high school has an open campus) and I am stuck in line with a zillion teenagers ordering very complicated drinks. If they could buy their fancy drinks at school, they don't have to clog the line so I can get my Venti Dark quickly.

Maybe they are trying to encourage students to stay on campus and not leave school grounds to get a Starbucks.

[queenmama]

I love this idea. I would prefer that my teenager drink coffee than diet sodas, which is all his school is stocking now. :mad:

Lara

[SnuggleBuggles]

My jaw dropped a little when I saw a 7th grader at ds1's school walking with a Starbucks cup the other day. I had no idea students were allowed coffee at school.

[MommyAllison]

Our high school had one 15 years ago, but it was attached to the student store rather than the library. It was very popular!

[essnce629]

Sounds cool-- I wish my high school had one! I would have probably just bought hot chocolate though.

[MamaMolly]

More empty calories. Just what they need. :irked:

[Momit]

Having a place to order regular coffee or tea is one thing. But the extra large beverages loaded with sugary syrup flavorings seem like a bad idea. The school probably sees big revenue opportunities - those drinks aren't cheap!

[zukeypur]

I wish my school would have had one.

[hellokitty]

Having a place to order regular coffee or tea is one thing. But the extra large beverages loaded with sugary syrup flavorings seem like a bad idea. The school probably sees big revenue opportunities - those drinks aren't cheap!

:yeahthat: Putting myself in the shoes of a teen, I would have LOVED a starbucks-like coffee shop at school. However, omg, having your kid drop $4-6 per drink, possibly more than once a day, and full of bad calories? As a parent, I would not like this idea at all.

[mommylamb]

Maybe they are trying to encourage students to stay on campus and not leave school grounds to get a Starbucks.

:yeahthat: I think I would have been less likely to skip class and run off to dunkin doughnuts or subway (the only options near my HS), if they had had a coffee shop at the school.

[glbb35]

If I were a teen I would be thrilled. If I were the parent of that teen I would be less than thrilled. These drinks are as said previously "empty calories" and hyping a teen up several times a day cannot be good for them. Not to mention super expensive. Heck when I was in college (yes a million years ago) hardly any of us drank coffee and if we did it was around exam time. I didn't start drinking coffee until after I had DS#5! All of sudden I couldn't do without it. When I was done nursing I went in full time with regular and not decaf. Now I can't start my day without it. I am addicted!

It is probably a huge source of revenue for the schools. Around here everyone knows to skip going to Starbucks both for frugal reasons but also never when the kids get out of school as the line is usually a mile long. Isn't all this stimulant bad for their health? Don't we already have kids allergic to practically everything and dealing with health issues we couldn't even imagine having when we were kids? We watch so many reports on kids sniffing glues and spray cans for the stimulants and that is what caffeine is. All the ADD and ADHD and other issues out there and we load them up with more stimulant.

I know, I know, I sound old and not hip like a cool mom would be. I get the revenue source thing for the schools but from a health standpoint I can't imagine this is a good thing for 12, 13 and older kids! BTW at Christmas time I used a GC I had and ducked into Starbucks. One of the families who have an elementary student in DS#1's class was there with 2 older siblings. The high schooler had coffee, some latte thing all done up. But so did their obviously middle schooler. And DS#1's friend, a half coffee, half hot chocolate drink. The mom even joked about how she was ever going to get child off to bed tonight. Really? Frugal side of me thought, 4 coffee drinks at $4-6 apiece, that is a meal for your kids!

B

DS 03, 06, twins 09, 11

[egoldber]

If the choice is coffee or soda, then I think coffee is the better choice.

You guys Starbucks must be a lot more than mine. ;) I can get drinks for both me and DD for $5. She gets hot chocolate and I get drip coffee.

[psimpson3-5]

No coffee shop, but we had a "school store." We could buy candy :love-retry: and we were allowed to eat it during class. I found this fascinating because I previously had gone to a Catholic HS and transferred to this public HS for my junior and senior years. Eating in class?!? They would NEVER allow this at the Catholic school.

[bcafe]

Heck, we couldn't even chew gum! But, we had awesome 80's hair and Gunne Sax dresses :jammin:.

[ahisma]

DD's high school is an open campus. Starbucks is a few doors down, just past the candy shop. It's a dietary train wreck that we struggle with daily.

[buttercup]

I would be so happy with that.
I'm super relaxed about coffee/tea though, my 9 yr old has sips of my coffee often (and has since quite young) and tea daily.

[barkley1]

If I were a teen I would be thrilled. If I were the parent of that teen I would be less than thrilled. These drinks are as said previously "empty calories" and hyping a teen up several times a day cannot be good for them. Not to mention super expensive. Heck when I was in college (yes a million years ago) hardly any of us drank coffee and if we did it was around exam time. I didn't start drinking coffee until after I had DS#5! All of sudden I couldn't do without it. When I was done nursing I went in full time with regular and not decaf. Now I can't start my day without it. I am addicted!

It is probably a huge source of revenue for the schools. Around here everyone knows to skip going to Starbucks both for frugal reasons but also never when the kids get out of school as the line is usually a mile long. Isn't all this stimulant bad for their health? Don't we already have kids allergic to practically everything and dealing with health issues we couldn't even imagine having when we were kids? We watch so many reports on kids sniffing glues and spray cans for the stimulants and that is what caffeine is. All the ADD and ADHD and other issues out there and we load them up with more stimulant.

I know, I know, I sound old and not hip like a cool mom would be. I get the revenue source thing for the schools but from a health standpoint I can't imagine this is a good thing for 12, 13 and older kids! BTW at Christmas time I used a GC I had and ducked into Starbucks. One of the families who have an elementary student in DS#1's class was there with 2 older siblings. The high schooler had coffee, some latte thing all done up. But so did their obviously middle schooler. And DS#1's friend, a half coffee, half hot chocolate drink. The mom even joked about how she was ever going to get child off to bed tonight. Really? Frugal side of me thought, 4 coffee drinks at $4-6 apiece, that is a meal for your kids!

B

DS 03, 06, twins 09, 11

:yeahthat: letting teens monitor their own caffeine intake is a bad idea!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

However, omg, having your kid drop $4-6 per drink, possibly more than once a day, and full of bad calories? As a parent, I would not like this idea at all.

:yeahthat:

the $$ and the calories starts to add up...not another thing i'd want to have to worry about!!

i am also wary of the whole idea of starbucks or whoever doing this try to get kids hooked on coffee at an early age (it's not just the caffeine/empty calories, it's the $$ too). the soda/diet soda already bugs me but that seems so commonplace already not much you can do about that.

i'm biased though, i don't drink coffee at all, and never understood the appeal of Starbucks drinks. :shrug:

[TwinFoxes]

Is it a Starbucks OP? I assumed it was just a shop run by the school/students. With drinks costing way less than at a Starbucks We had a store with a snack bar at our HS that was open between periods and at the end of lunch. (We had a spread out a campus, so passing periods were quite long). I don't think it's a bad idea if they're selling coffee, tea, lattes. But if they're doing super sugary frappucinos etc, I can see why parents wouldn't be thrilled.

[gcc2k]

As a former school librarian, I am familiar with the coffee shop in the library phenomenon, and I can tell you there are probably two reasons for it. 1) Most likely it is a marketing strategy on the part of the librarians to bring in as many students as possible. Librarians need to be creative these days to keep their libraries as a vital and necessary part of the school: the information center. Internet access, loaning e-readers, and coffee shops are all ways librarians can hook students and encourage them to use the library's resources. 2) The librarians probably used funds or even grant money to buy the supplies, a Keurig to whatever, and then of course pass the reasonable mark-up on to the student while using the profits to supplement their dwindling budget.

Basically librarians need to find ways to keep their library doors open. From a parent perspective I may not like the extra calories, caffeine, or cost, but as an educator I think it's fantastic.

[pinkmomagain]

All the ADD and ADHD and other issues out there and we load them up with more stimulant.


Actuallly, stimulants are used to help manage ADHD. I knew a guy who "self-medicated" with large amounts Mountain Dew to help him focus.

[alexsmommy]

If the choice is this or soda, I'll take this because there are at least some health benefits and a few less frankenchemicals with all of the sugar.

No I don't think it's the healthiest (at all), but I also see the kids at my local high school clogging the line at Starbucks, so if someone is going to get the revenue, then it might as well be the school.

Now, our high school is open campus for lunch periods so I might feel differently if my kids couldn't leave the school during the day. But by me SB is about two blocks away and I avoid it like the plague right before school starts, during lunch and right after because the line can be out the door.

[amatahrain]

Is it a Starbucks OP? I assumed it was just a shop run by the school/students. With drinks costing way less than at a Starbucks We had a store with a snack bar at our HS that was open between periods and at the end of lunch. (We had a spread out a campus, so passing periods were quite long). I don't think it's a bad idea if they're selling coffee, tea, lattes. But if they're doing super sugary frappucinos etc, I can see why parents wouldn't be thrilled.

It's not a Starbucks. They do offer all sorts of flavors and the whole bit. The main reason they cited for offering a coffee bar was to bring revenue to the library and because kids would just go to dunkins or starbucks anyway.

I don't know where these kids get the money for their fancy drinks. I am not a coffee drinker because a) can't stand the taste b) I don't need any empty calories c) I can't justify spending the money.

On the other hand my sister goes to Starbucks at least once a day and gives her three year old a sippy cup full of coffee everyday. She of course thinks this is a fantastic idea. She is also always broke and can't afford her bills!

I think this struck a cord with me b/c I am working very hard with DD to develop healthy eating and drinking habits. I think maybe they should write the calories on each cup when the kid buys a coffee. I find it very interesting that the USDA is trying to implement a 200 calorie max per item in school vending machines yet coffee bars are available where they can get any number of calories in a single drink.

[mikala]

On the other hand my sister goes to Starbucks at least once a day and gives her three year old a sippy cup full of coffee everyday. She of course thinks this is a fantastic idea. She is also always broke and can't afford her bills!
whuck?? The words coffee and sippy cup never belong together.

[infomama]

Short answer...I don't support this idea at all.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

On the other hand my sister goes to Starbucks at least once a day and gives her three year old a sippy cup full of coffee everyday.


Whuck?? Ok, that's just nuts. I cannot imagine. I hesitate to give my 3yo chocolate sometimes.

Back to the OP, given that it's not a Starbucks that makes it less bad in my mind...i think mom-n-pop coffee shops don't make as many of the huge sugary drinks, and the sizes are not as big, and not as expensive.