We all look forward to our lunch periods right? It is the only time during the school day when we get to relax, talk, and eat with our friends. But if there is chaos in the cafeteria, would you still be looking forward to lunch periods? Students crowd the premises, pushing past one another without a “sorry,” and forgetting to clean after themselves. We are currently in a pandemic, a situation that is out of our control, and the students who don’t stay clean before and after eating are violating the COVID-19 guidelines. However, we can fix this cafeteria mayhem if we can implement some solutions to this issue. 

 

Current Cafeteria Situation:

In the cafeteria, students often cause problems such as sanitation, overpopulation, and overcrowding. Some students forget to wash their hands and/or use hand sanitizer before and after eating their meals. Additionally, due to the packed space, some students bump into each other, or into teachers and school staff. There are also students who are not able to find their seats. 

Students during 4th and 7th periods in lunch have stated that, “The cafeteria is crowded and loud, which is really irritating.” Some other students have also mentioned that “After the 4th period, the table becomes dirty.” The lack of cleanliness and space breaks the social distancing and other guidelines of COVID-19. 

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How Can We Solve These Problems?

However, how will we solve these issues? Some suggestions include: The cafeteria staff should ask the students if they washed their hands and/or used hand sanitizer before and after eating their meals. In order to solve the crowded cafeteria problem, we can either separate middle school students and high school students by table according to their grade levels or by periods. For instance, middle school students can have lunch during 4th and 6th periods. While high school students can have lunch during 5th and 7th periods. This way, it allows students to avoid spreading coronavirus and there will be enough seats for every student. Furthermore, students should make a line while picking up the school lunch and take responsibility for cleaning the tables after they are finished with their meals. 

 

As the school mentioned before, the only time students are allowed to take off their mask is when eating their lunch during their lunch period, or breakfast during the first 15 minutes of the 1st period. Therefore students should put their mask on after eating their meals. Moreover, the students should store away their school device while eating their lunch since it is not their own property. If food and/or water spills on the school devices, the students will have to pay for the damages. 

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Help Us Spread Awareness About This Issue at TYWLS!

With the new coronavirus variant, omicron on the horizon, it is imperative that we follow all COVID-19 guidelines as long as the pandemic continues. The situation in the cafeteria needs to be emphasized more in our school because these problems can lead to the spread of viruses and it is overall very bothersome to the students and school staff to be in a cramped environment. So please, help us spread awareness throughout TYWLS about the disarray in our cafeteria!