The school has introduced new lunch seating arrangements for this school year, and there are two opposing views on the new lunch seating: those who prefer the seat to be separated by grade level, and those who prefer to be able to sit wherever they wish.
It’s been interpreted by many students that school administrators believed physical altercations occurred between students in the same grade, and that was supposedly the reason for the separation by grade during lunch.
“Years ago, I would say right after COVID when kids came back, we did have several fights in the cafeteria, but that’s really kind of died down,” Assistant Principal Keri Harrington said. “What I worry about more during the lunchtime is our kids who are roamers, and they really should be in the cafeteria, but they’re out wandering the halls in different places at this time. I guess as a byproduct, we hope, overall, [is] it helps with discipline to have an idea of where kids are supposed to be seated.”
Different grades and students have different feelings on whether the seating arrangements should be kept the way they are this year, or to go back to how they were previously.
“I think it’s pretty good because I haven’t seen a lot of fights being started, and everyone is separate,” freshman Addison Pacifico said.
Freshman who are entering high school for the first time may not be familiar with being a part of a larger school. The seating based on grade can make the transition easier for them.
“I like having the choice to be able to sit wherever I want because I have some friends in higher grades that I would like to sit with, but I think right now it’s good,” Pacifico said.
A sudden change in lunch seating arrangements is capable of impacting a student’s lunch routine, but it doesn’t mean it will impact every student.
“I’m a senior this year, so I haven’t had any issues with anything,” senior Owen Carmel said. “Personally, I sit at the same table I always have, which I think is just luck.”
The placement for where different grades are specified to sit can make the lunch experience for each grade different, as some areas in the cafeteria have a slightly different atmosphere than others. The behavior of students can also impact a student’s experience.
“I think having it by grade maybe helps with the chaoticness,” Carmel said. “I like it the way it is right now. I think it has separated people, and it’s calmer, at least from where I’m at. I sit in the library area, so I’ve noticed it’s just been a lot more relaxing.”
Junior Kendy Lechner had different reasons for her usual lunch routine to not be impacted very much.
“I have different friends in different grades, and usually I like to sit with them,” Lechner said. “This year they’re not in my lunch, so it doesn’t really affect me as much this year, though, if they were my lunch, that would affect me.”
Compared to the freshman and seniors supporting the current lunch seating, Lechner, as a junior, provides a different view on the matter.
“I preferred where we could sit wherever we wanted because it feels like more freedom, and I have friends in different grade levels. I technically can’t sit with them,” Lechner said. “Either way, people are sneaking on the tables that aren’t in their grade level, so it’s not doing anything, and they’re disrupting. It’s unfair that my friends and I, who follow the rules, sit at the table as we need to, and we can’t sit together, but these kids are doing whatever they want.”
The change in lunch seating has affected some student’s lunch routines.
“I already had plans to sit with my friends, but since that happened, I had no choice but to not sit with my friends,” sophomore Ronan Chirdon said.
Depending on the grades of a student’s friend, the separation, if they’re in different grades, can isolate some from interaction with them.
“I really prefer being able to sit wherever I want to sit because all my friends aren’t in my grade,” Chirdon said. “That kind of sucks to be taken away from them.”
There is not one particular reason for the change in lunch seating, but rather multiple reasons for this to have been implemented. It wasn’t entirely the administration’s idea, as most students believed it was.
“Initially, that idea came to be from the student advisory kids,” Harrington said. “We were trying to provide some order in the cafeterias for the lunch monitors because it’s a lot of kids for them to be watching just with a few teachers in the cafeterias. It was for the upperclassmen to provide them some opportunities to have some freedom in a space where they’re among their classmates, and for the underclassmen, it was a way to provide the lunch monitors some order in those larger areas.”
