Time to Stop

HOW LUNCH TIMES TAKES A TOLL ON STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

Photo and Story By Colvin Parvin

Lunch is a time for students to eat and enjoy their time, not a time for when they need to worry about getting their third tardy and having lunch deten-tion for an issue out of their control. Thankfully however, 56% of And it causes a problem with students when it comes to being in class on time, how much learning they are getting done, and how much students really get to enjoy themselves at school. I know for myself I students feel that they have enough time to eat and enjoy themselves, whether they are staying at the school or if they are leaving. That leaves 44% of students feeling like they don’t have the time to enjoy their lunch. This is in favor of the lunches being enough time, however those numbers are still way too close. Unfortunately, with that many students feeling they have enough time, students are still debating about whether they have the time to eat and enjoy time with their friends with our current schedule. The seniors and juniors don’t have a lot of time to go get food from their preferred fast-food restaurant, and then make it to class on time. This year we have suffered a massive increase in tardies 66% after lunch alone because students can’t make it to class on time. Or, they are making it to class but they are not getting a OF SENIOR STUDENTS LEAVE chance to eat properly. And with them not being able to eat in class, it makes it even harder for them. DURING LUNCH, WHILE ONLY 33% There are, however, multiple ways that we can resolve STAY. AS FOR JUNIORS, 60% LEAVE the issue. One solution would be to allow access to other en- WHEREAS 40% STAY, ACCORDING trances such as the old entrance to the school, allowing students to come into the school from that side of the building, TO A SURVEY OF 91 STUDENTS. cutting passing times essentially in half. Some seniors and juniors park on Liberty Street outside of the senior parking lot because they do not want to deal with a lot of traffic, which results in tardiness because they can only come in through the “Blue” building. The issue with this, though, is that we don’t have the faculty to watch the entrance. If we could get one faculty member, whether it be a teacher, counselor, or even a custodian for the time being. It would allow us to get to class on time no matter where we park. The faculty haven’t felt any major changes as far as their lunch is concerned since they have always been given a mandatory 30-minute lunch break every day, however, teachers are not supposed to do any form of work during this lunch. This mandatory lunch is required by law and has been required for years. This means that during their lunch they can not supervise the halls, watch the other entrances for students coming in or out during lunch, or even make sure that people are behaving themselves during lunch. The responsibility falls on counseling staff and custodians, which, frankly, isn’t their job to do. This will also make it hard for them to watch other entrances and allow students to come in through the old building. One reason seniors struggle adjusting is because they have seen around six to seven different schedules, based on online school and in-person school since COVID-19 started. The freshman and juniors have seen three to four different schedules with the same dependents. This alone could cause some concern amongst the students because how do they know when a schedule is going to finally stick. would use school as an outlet to see friends and maybe even meet new people but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that and I was limited to seeing one or two people because I didn’t have the time to make a couple walks around the whole building and eat a good lunch. So, what did it feel like to have multiple different schedules in one year, let alone six in four? Well, for most seniors, we’ve had to adapt. It is our last year and some of us can’t wait to get out, so we just settle with what we’ve got. However, the freshman and sophomores will get used to the construction schedule which will make it even harder for them to change it again in the future. We feel like we haven’t had a set schedule except for our freshman year. And some of us don’t even remember it. So what caused all this chaos? Once construction was done, the schedule was moved back to the prior schedule. Causing the overall layout and flat plan for the school to be changed entirely and for the students to have to adapt just as much if not more than the teachers. When the seniors were freshmen, they had a schedule that was due to the construction of the new school. It was deemed the “Construction Schedule.” This schedule was for the students that had to park at the football field and students that couldn’t park close to the school. However with the new building, and where the parking is now it is the same distance for some students because they are still having to park at the football field and walk all the way to A hall. The construction schedule is what the seniors got used to and had for the first two years of their high school education. Once construction was done, however, we were put back onto the original schedule that was in place before the seniors started high school. The schedule allotted a 32-minute lunch, and that just isn’t enough time with the distance of some classes and only one entrance open. I think that with the schedule we have now we are getting time to eat and maybe see some friends and talk about what is going on for spirit week, or what the latest episode of “What If?” is about. 40 minutes is enough time for students to get to class, but it’s not enough time for the students to get to their classes at a reasonable time.