1630 students, 125 minutes, 4 lunches, 30 minutes apiece, 1 cafeteria, and some confusion.  In an interview with students during fourth lunch, many expressed their dislike of the over-crowded lunchroom. 

Along with the recent renovations has come the change within the school: from teachers retiring to Mr. Parker climbing the school administrative ladder and the naming of our new principal. Mrs. Sylvia Lambert and her administrative staff have explored changes to the lunch schedule in the hopes of remedying any problems with the lunch schedule.

Originally, the idea was to condense the four lunches into three this semester to correct this, but what happened?

What Mrs. Lambert said was, “…we [Mr. Quick and I] were [enthusiastic about it], but that changed; and one reason that changed is because every single thing we’re doin we want to make sure we [are]… able to answer the question ‘Is this student centered?’…”

But what did she mean by “student centered”? She clarified that she wanted the students to be the main focus of the change, listening to their wants and needs.

Unfortunately, the idea for three lunches only had to be scrapped, as it wasn’t doable when considered in context of the rest of the schedule and student population.

How is it possible to fit 557 students in a cafeteria that only “can handle around 450 students”? Even with the extra seating in the commons areas and the seating outside for seniors, it was going to be crowded.

Mr. Quick described the dilemma as follows: “To try to seat 1630 students and condense them down to three lunches was almost next to impossible.”

So, what are they doing to solve this?

“We are readjusting different lunch schedules, so we can have a more balanced fourth lunch, third lunch… all of them will be more balanced.” Changes have occurred since then. Teachers whose third block classes originally had fourth lunch are being moved to second and third lunch, sometimes even first.

Student Eloriona Sons stated that Ms. Lakso was upset with the change in having third lunch instead of fourth lunch. Some students are in agreement with this.  A band student added, “We’re in band, so whatever we eat goes directly into our instruments. For us, it isn’t that good…We’re in fourth lunch for a reason.”

How can we continue to improve the lunch situation? Dialogue is essential.

Communication is key to solve this issue, and thankfully, we have a principal willing to listen to student suggestions.

**Note: Link to the interview with Mrs. Sylvia Lambert here.**