The beginning of a new school year came with seemingly small new schedule changes. Last year, Lafayette’s lunch schedule included five 22-minute lunches during third block, but this year, an unexpected change arose. This year’s lunch schedule has four 30-minute lunch periods. Though this may seem like an insignificant change, everyone has thoughts.
Though this change has been a long time coming, the new schedule plan began in November 2024. Administrators considered many different options, trying to make sure that certain areas of the school were in lunches together and that students were not walking into lunch at the same time other students were walking out. Eventually, they came to this new schedule.
Administrators had heard student complaints about the five-lunch schedule for years. Students would often get their lunch, sit down, and then have to go right back to class. With the eight extra minutes provided by this new schedule, many students are getting more time to eat and relax.
Last year and the years before, many students complained about the short lunch times and the lack of time to eat. According to Dr. Caroline Morales, an assistant principal at Lafayette, “Over the last two years, lots of students have complained that they haven’t had time to finish their lunch.” With this new schedule, students get eight extra minutes to finish their lunch and socialize.
Many students seem to enjoy this new change. Sophomore Emily Reed says that she prefers the new lunch schedule, “I actually kind of like it… It gives students more opportunities to interact with others.” Now that students have longer lunch periods, they have time to enjoy their lunch.
Students weren’t the only ones wanting longer lunches. Teachers also complained of not having enough time to eat and also get any work done. “That’s also a very short lunch for adults if they want to walk all the way from their classroom to the faculty bathroom and back,” said Morales. With eight extra minutes, teachers can now print papers, grade assignments, or go to the bathroom.
Reactions to the new schedule weren’t all good. Many students complain about overcrowded lunches, despite the administration’s goal of not having more people in lunches than at the largest lunch last year. Morales stated, “We started running numbers on this… making sure that no lunches would be bigger than the largest lunch last year.” Reed said, “So there’s definitely a lot more people, which I don’t love.” Students who were in last year’s more crowded lunches have noticed the cafeteria is even more congested.
While many are enjoying the extra time, the extra students have made the lunch lines go slower, and the cafeteria feels overcrowded. But despite the overcrowded feeling of the cafeteria, eight minutes can make a bigger difference than you might have realized.
