Sutton High School, which currently has one lunch period for all of the high school students, used to have multiple lunches in the past. With recurring complaints and critiques from my peers about the efficiency of students getting their lunch in a timely manner, I started wondering if Sutton High should bring back the two lunch system.
In order to determine if bringing two lunches would be possible I talked to the high school vice principal, Brian Liporto, and both the middle and high school principals, Anne Corron and Ted McCarthy.
In an interview with Ms. Corron, she talked about some of the challenges with the middle school having a two lunch system in the past: “The main challenge is the scheduling piece because if we have two lunches, one is always going to result in a split lunch. So the kids would have twenty minutes of class, lunch, then twenty more minutes of class. For middle schoolers that is especially hard.”
If the high school was to have multiple lunches, a split lunch would be a big adjustment for Sutton High School students. In a opinion piece by Sanjana Srinivasan, she shared her dislike for split lunches: “Personally, I’m not a fan of split lunch periods. I do not like starting class, going to lunch, and then coming after eating. It’s disruptive to the learning environment, since lunch in the middle of class interrupts the class period. Additionally, lesson plans are split in half, which makes them hard to understand and follow.” Many students complain about having to wait a long time for food, but they might not be happy about split lunches, either.
Another reason students might want to rethink suggesting two lunches is the fact that many students would not have lunch with their friends. This was brought up by Mr. McCarthy during our interview. “When we moved from two lunches to one lunch, the main reason was because the students requested it. This was because students were upset that when we split into two lunches, and you’d have some seniors in one lunch and they weren’t with their friends who were in the other lunch.” While this may seem like an unimportant reason to have only one lunch to the outside perspective, it is personally one of the main reasons I love having one lunch for all of the high school students as well as many other students.
Another thing to think of is that with our drop schedule depending on the day you may have a different lunch. Brian Liporto brought up the fact that, “On days one through four you would have a different lunch then days five through seven.” While some students may still want split lunches, I personally think that this would be more annoying then having to wait a little longer for your meal.
I also decided to interview two teachers to get their opinion on if we should bring back two lunches. One of the teachers I chose to interview was Timothy Anderson, one of Sutton’s History teachers, and the second was Madison Taylor, an English teacher at Sutton High School.
Mr. Anderson not only gave his perspective as a teacher but as a parent of two Sutton High students. He himself has mixed feelings on the topic: “On the one hand I know that it presents a whole host of challenges in terms of scheduling, but as a parent of two students that go here I know that there are days where my kids don’t eat lunch because the line is too long.” Mr. Anderson later said that while all of the kids do have time to eat, many choose to socialize with their friends.
Obviously no matter if it is the kids choice or not, the wait for the lunch line is clearly too long if students have to choose if they want more time with their friends or a meal. I some days decide to skip getting lunch because I want to talk with my friends or just don’t feel like waiting. This said, many kids who are constantly skipping lunch could and should choose to pack their own lunch to prevent this problem from reoccurring daily.
Ms. Taylor noted that this would be a huge adjustment for students because they would have to figure out a whole new lunch schedule and would be disappointing for the people used to having only one lunch: “Especially for seniors, you guys are pretty set in your ways…but especially if you are a freshman or are new to the school and you found a friend in a class but they you aren’t eating with you at lunch, you have a lot more added stress.” While the length lunch line is a huge con to one lunch their are many social benefits to having one lunch.
In conclusion, I feel like Sutton High School should stick to having one lunch. While the lunch line is long there is always another alternative of packing yourself a lunch so that you can have more time to spend with your friends. Personally, being able to sit with my friends is what mainly sways me to believe this. On top of that I also think I and many others would struggle with a split lunch. All of these reasons make me think that having one lunch is best for Sutton High School and its students.
