The days of four lunch blocks are over! Finally, students have the freedom to have a single lunch block where everyone can eat together for a longer period of time. Seems great, right? That is until you get into the lunch line.
“It normally takes around 20-25 minutes for me to make it through the lunch line when people move to the front to wait with their friends,” said senior Nassir Foster.
Students wait anxiously, the line completely unmoving, as they watch other students walk to the front. They move in larger groups most of the time, sometimes seven or eight people cutting into the front of the line at a time, causing the custodians to become frustrated. Some even cut the entire line by starting a conversation with the custodians standing at the front and just walking past them afterward.
“Most of the people cutting the line aren’t even getting lunch,¨ said senior Noah Bell.
Even if it seems unusual to hear, this is completely true. A lot of the line cutting is for the reason of wanting to be around friends, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, aside from the issue of causing a lot of traffic.
“The most frustrating part is when you’re at the back of the line having to watch everyone cutting you, giving you two options: cut the line as well, or wait it out and stay in the line for literally half an hour,” said junior Max Archie.
The real question is: how do we fix the issue? How would students want to see our staff handle line cutting?
Both Bell and Foster agree that we should open up more lines to better accommodate the number of students buying lunch.
“We could definitely open up more lines to get lunch or be stricter on the no cutting policy,” said Foster.
But Archie proposed another idea: “Have school security staff watch both lines and make sure not a single person cuts; reported cutting could lead to a warning, then lunch detention. This will easily fix the issue and discourage future cutting.”
If you are cutting the lunch line, you are part of the problem. Please refrain from cutting, even if you’re not getting lunch. Your friends will get through the line faster and you’ll get to hang out sooner.
