By: Aparna Raj and Kashvi Gupta
Roughly 1,050 students are jam-packed into the Multi-Purpose Room and at the blue tables each day, seeking a spot where they can peacefully eat lunch, but it is too crowded, too messy, and too much.
Mr. Rick, a campus supervisor at Fallon Middle School said roughly 250 people end up in the MPR to seek warmth on the chilliest days but fail to find a spot. According to him, it can be quite challenging to ensure that over 1,000 students are served and have enough time to eat and recharge before their next class. He also adds that overcrowding on the blue tables and MPR is a tremendous issue. According to a survey taken by seventh and eighth graders at Fallon Middle School, 86.4% surveyed preferred seventh and eighth-grade lunch to be separate. Many of these students chose to separate seventh and eighth-grade lunches because the lunch lines are unbelievably long, there are barely any places to sit, the sports equipment is unavailable, and there are too many messes.
Due to this, several students skip lunch and seek refuge in the library. Even then, after roughly 15-20 minutes, the library is full too. Many students are angered by their situation, longing for the days when their lunches were separate, allowing them to peacefully eat their food and go to the library without rushing. One of these students is eighth grader Menghao Li, who states, "There's just way too many people and it gets too crowded.” She prefers the seventh and eighth lunches to be separate because of the crowding issue. Combining the seventh and eighth graders has made it tough on many people. Many people feel pressured to arrive at the lunch and snack lines early. Seventh and eighth lunch has taken a toll on many students, and many complaints have occurred regarding it.
Although there are downsides, there are many benefits to combining seventh and eighth-grade lunches. The students who said they liked combined lunch wrote that their main reason was that they were able to see their seventh and eighth-grade friends together, and not forcing one grade level to have to eat lunch at 10 A.M. on Wednesdays. Neha Singh, a seventh grader at Fallon Middle School, says, “It gives the seventh graders a chance to come out of their shell, and it gives them a chance to be around people who are older than them.” She believes combined lunch gives the seventh and eighth graders a unique opportunity to interact with those outside of their age group. The Fallon Middle School principal, Mark Nelson, states that he decided to combine seventh and eighth-grade lunches because, “We had three lunches going on each day, and it was too much to manage. [Also,] it allows our campus supervisors more time to supervise other areas of campus, it makes it easier to schedule classes, there is more flexibility in our overall schedule, and our custodians and food services workers only have to prep and clean after two lunches, not three.”
Mr. Nelson believes it was incredibly beneficial to the custodians and the staff because it made it easier for them to prepare for the lunches. It's not as burdensome for them since they only need to prepare once instead of three times for the same thing. Supervising and prepping for lunches takes a lot of work, and doing it twice, rather than thrice, simplifies everything. Since there are long lunch lines, our principal is looking for solutions to curb the problem. Mr. Rick thinks that adding additional serving lines could be a solution to this.
Furthermore, during the 2021-2022 school year, eighth graders had to eat lunch at 10 A.M., which aroused many complaints from both parents and students. Combining seventh and eighth-grade lunches was a solution to this problem. There will always be complaints about everything. It is important to be aware that a solution cannot satisfy everyone. Some students prefer a separate lunch and some don’t. Making sure to combine opinions from everyone, not just students, admin has decided this is the best solution, at least for now.
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