No Room in the Cafeteria
Photo via Unsplash
Harlowe Hutter
Every year the number of students coming to Hamilton High School is rapidly growing. With the increasing number of students, Hamilton has a real need to expand our cafeteria space. With the current high school enrollment of 1,484 (Niche), there are approximately just under 500 students in each lunch period (Hamilton runs an A, B, and C lunch). Currently, as a short-term solution, some students eat lunch in teachers’ classrooms.
The proposed referendum stated, “The cafeteria and kitchen have not been expanded since their original construction in 1962. The area is too small for current enrollment, and kitchen equipment is outdated” (Hamilton Referendum). The most recent board meeting notes indicated that the district has not gotten as much support for the expansion of the cafeteria as it had hoped, so they have decided not to continue with putting it to a community vote (Hamilton Board Notes). Unfortunately, that means there currently is not a long-term solution in place for this problem. During this year, some kids have been relegated to eating on the floor, which is a horrible solution to a problem that currently has no end in sight. It’s clear that Hamilton needs to focus on some more immediate solutions to this issue.
Temporary Solutions
A temporary solution to this problem is letting seniors and juniors who have a focus (study hall) either before or after their lunch that line up together have open-campus lunch. This is a good short-term solution until a new cafeteria can be built or a more permanent solution arises. The fewer students that have to eat in the cafeteria, the more space is created for other students who cannot choose to leave school for lunch.
Semi-Permanent Solutions
A semi-permanent solution to the cafeteria situation is a schedule change.
One option for a schedule change is to add a D lunch to the schedule which would be very complicated but necessary to avoid overcrowding in the cafeteria. This has the potential to change the times of the set school day.
The second option is to move advisement to be right before or after a lunch period to provide a longer lunch, which will allow for more lunch periods and will allow for more time to get students off campus for open lunch. This option would work out well because it will incentivize students to reach certain goals (good grades & better attendance) to qualify for open-campus lunch. One potential issue with this is that advisement would no longer be a consistent school-wide schedule, which might make it difficult for students to meet with their teachers if the schedules do not line up.
Permanent Solutions
All in all, the only permanent solution is to expand the cafeteria. The solutions above may be good for several years, but eventually, the only viable solution for Hamilton High School is to expand the cafeteria. It is critically important that the referendum is passed or that Hamilton finds budget funds elsewhere to expand the cafeteria.
Overall, it should not be up to students to have to find other places to eat lunch or eat on the floor. The cafeteria should be a place for students to rely on to eat their lunch without having to worry whether or not there will be enough room for them.
Sources
Hamilton School District Referendum: A Guide for Growth — Charger Press
