While on cafeteria duty, I witnessed many food fights and narrowly missed being hit with mashed potatoes and corn.

But under a provision in the teachers' contract, those teachers are being relieved of cafeteria duty.

Even the relief from cafeteria duty was not appreciated; it was packaged with new authority for principals to tell teachers how to use their free "professional" periods.

The 1996 contract eliminated cafeteria duty unless 75 percent of all union members in a school waive the rule; school aides do the job instead.

But the contract says "the inclusion of cafeteria duties, yard, bus and hall patrols and study hall is strictly prohibited."

Mr. Morgan sees his cafeteria duty as a chance to teach students to respect one another.

A new contract provision exempts teachers from cafeteria duty and replaces them with newly hired aides.

A high school biology teacher grown frustrated with cafeteria duty and bathroom patrol, Molly had shifted direction at age thirty-one and returned to graduate school.

Mr. Smith said, noting that he would happily shed mundane responsibilities like cafeteria duty.