(Thrown food around the lunch room) -photo credit Marina Siebor

By Marina Siebor,

I believe that students should have the ability to freely leave the lunch room during their lunch time.

Currently we are not allowed to leave for lunch because people are leaving and not coming back. Personally I think if you are going to leave for lunch and not bother to come back you shouldn’t be able to leave to go buy a lunch. However, students who are being responsible and coming back on time should not be punished for the actions of others. 

My reasoning behind this is that during lunch some students might not enjoy what we have for lunch that day and just want something else to eat, but didn’t bring anything to eat that day. Then what? Should students go the rest of the day without eating? We can’t have that happening. That is just my opinion on the matter.

I asked a student in my class, Jordan Gabel-Peralta, about this, and he said “I think people should be able to leave as long as it is guaranteed for their return. I see no harm in it as long as they return within 15 minutes, or in enough time to eat and go to their next class”.

Another good reason for this is we have no place to sit in the cafeteria. There are way more kids in lunch C than any other lunch period in the school. There are too many kids in the C lunch so some kids don’t have a place to sit at lunch. You will see kids standing up, eating by the air vents because they have no place to sit.

A helpful suggestion is that we create a system where if someone would like to leave the school for lunch they would have to see a staff member at the front door of the school building to gain access to the outside. They would have to sign a piece of paper with their name on it and the current time, promising to return. If they do not return before the lunch period ends then they should be marked absent for the rest of the day and their parent or guardian would be contacted.

(People putting their lunch trays on the air conditioner due to there being no more room on the lunch tables) – photo credit Marina Siebor

In conclusion, I think students should be allowed to leave the school grounds to buy lunch, because people won’t always like what the school has for lunch and would like a little bit of freedom.