Current lunch shifts a hectic system

Monica Reida/Staff Writer

Lunch can be the best of times and the worst of times. It ultimately depends on what lunch shift you are assigned at Cedar Falls High School. I am not just talking about whether you’re eating with your friends or if the food is piping hot or still thawing.

I’m talking about the occasionally challenging task of finding a lunch table. At least, this always seems to be a difficulty for those that eat D lunch shift, like me.

For all three years I’ve been attending Cedar Falls High School, I’ve been assigned this shift due to playing in orchestra. At the beginning of the year, it’s packed as the result of the marching band practicing. When that is over, the cafeteria is half-full because some band students are assigned to C shift and some to D shift. But when second semester begins, the cafeteria is packed once again, occasionally bordering on being overcrowded, which forces some students to squat or stand while eating.

And every year I ask the students in A and B shift if their lunch shifts are packed like mine. Their answer is the same every year; it’s practically empty in there.It has always struck me that someone doesn’t really look at how students are distributed. If D shift is packed—thank goodness the juniors and seniors have lunch release, for now—but other shifts could maybe use some more students, then it seems as though there is some weird method of putting classes in assigned shifts.

With the constant rumors of release being taken away—by constant, I mean that it’s been in the air since I was a sophomore—it seems that the school needs to fix this problem.

It makes sense to put the band and orchestra students in C or D shift (D shift primarily for the orchestra students). Put the band students in A shift and the food might damage instruments; B lunch shift and it interrupts the practice time. While the orchestra students could be placed in A shift, the food might make them sleepy or the excitement over a conversation may cause the them to be wound up.

As for the other classes, someone might want to look at how many students are placed in each shift instead of classes. If you put five classes in D shift, it may sound good, but there are more than 30 students from just the orchestra.

If this is changed, the hazardous problems of having to find a place to sit while carrying a tray might be fixed, making the lives of students just a bit less stressed.