Ellen I. Hinthorn

This is from an article that appeared in the Port Orchard Independent on October 13, 2001:
"Let's Do Lunch"
She's been called "Garbage Queen," "Miss Fix-It," and "Lunch Lady." That's the fame that has accompanied Ellen Hinthorn at East Port Orchard Elementary School for the past 18 years. She is the head custodian, but come lunchtime children know Hinthorn isn't about cleaning toilets or washing tables. Managing the lunch room is her business and at 63 years of age, Hinthorn still loves what she does.
"I've been coming here every day for 18 years, and I still love coming to work," Hinthorn said. "If there's one thing I hope kids can learn from me, it's that work is not a bad word. If you hate work, you're going to be miserable your whole life no matter what you do."
Nearly two hours every day, Hinthorn becomes a second mother to hundreds of children. To ease the strain of what could be an unmanageable lunchroom, Hinthorn combines a mixture of positive reinforcements with strict consequences. Hinthorn is famous for giving a child a Tootsie Roll for being good.
"I go through a bag of 600 in two weeks sometimes," she said. "When a class goes through the lunchroom and they're all good, I'll give the whole class a Tootsie Roll. A little positive reward is a good thing for the kids." Not that Hinthorn gives out Tootsie Rolls easily. "I have only one rule about the Tootsie Rolls," she said. "They cannot ask me for one. If they ask me, they automatically won't get one. I can't tell them how they get them, either."
Hinthorn said children behave pretty well for the most part. But she is always prepared to deal with problems. For example, Hinthorn said groups of girls have propensity to gang up on a girl. When that happens, "They have to write a letter to the girl and say five nice things about her," she said. "If there's a second offense, I make them read the letter to the girl out loud in front of the class."
Hinthorn said the biggest problem with boys is foul language. "Their letter starts with, 'Dear mom,'" Hinthorn said. "They can't say, 'I was bad,' or, 'I said something bad.' They have to say exactly what they did. Afterwards, I say, 'Is your mom going to be proud of you when she gets this?'" The answer is always no, but Hinthorn said she doesn't push the envelope any further, because mistakes happen. "I say, 'I'll let this letter stand between you and me. I won't send it home. But if you say or do what you did again, I'll send it'." Hinthorn said she's never had to send a letter. "I've got a stack of them in my desk," she said. "You should read some. They're quite funny."
Students agree Hinthorn is like a second mother. "She's kind of nice, but strict," a sixth grader said. "If you do something wrong, you're going to have to deal with her." The student, who said he's only been in trouble once with Hinthorn, said the main thing in the lunchroom is to keep the noise level down. "Everybody has to be quiet, or else she blows a whistle."
A fifth grader said the only thing she dislikes about the lunchroom is the whistle. "Yeah, she's like a mother figure except for the whistle. Besides the whistle, everything is fine." She also said Hinthorn is cool to have in the lunchroom because she will not tolerate bullies. "When people are in a fight, she'll make them stand in front of everyone and hug each other. She really does like kids, and she's fair."
Hinthorn said she thinks she earns the respect of the children because of her fairness. "I get it because I respect them," Hinthorn said. "They know I try to be fair." When a child claims life isn't fair, Hinthorn has a simple reply. "I'm always telling them, 'Life isn't fair. If life was fair I'd be young, rich, and beautiful,' and they get the message."
In the 25 years she's worked for the South Kitsap School District, Hinthorn said she hasn't noticed any dramatic changes in the way children act. "All kids, I don't care how good they are, have some bad in them," she said. "The object is to bring out the best in them." One example is when a child is called stupid by another child. "I always tell them they're not stupid," she said. "if a kid comes up to me and tells me, 'He called me stupid,' I say, 'Well, are you?' And he says, 'no,' so I say, 'Well, that kid is a liar, isn't he?' And that makes him feel better."
Though she has to combat the horsing around in a lunchroom, Hinthorn said she tries to maintain a happy lunchroom. "If you're crying nobody is going to cry with you," she said. "But if you go through life laughing, everybody will laugh with you. That's just how I feel about life."