By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist
During Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Athens High School Principal Jami Ivey presented school board members with a photo taken in the cafeteria during breakfast time.
“I could tell you how crowded it is, but a picture is worth a thousand words,” said Ivey. The picture shows crowded tables and a great many students standing. Not only is breakfast overcrowded, in order to accommodate all the students, the first lunch period starts at 10:20, and the last period ends at 1:20.
“With the changing standards from the Texas Education Agency and the amount of credits students have to have, it made scheduling a real challenge,” Superintendent Blake Stiles explained to the board. “… It has forced the high school to have to start feeding them way too early.”
Stiles said he recently made a trip to the high school during the first lunch period and asked some of the students how they felt about eating so early in the day. “They said it was fine, but they were starving by 7th period,” he said.
“If you’re sitting in a math class or a science class, and your stomach is growling, you’re not paying attention,” said board member Alicea Elliott.
Aside from early meal times and crowded conditions, Ivey noted that the necessity of assigning enough personnel to monitor the cafeteria for a three-hour stretch is also an issue.
“They are doing a very good job of monitoring,” said Stiles. “But there are other things they could be doing during that time that they are not able to do. … Other than expanding the area that we have to work in, we don’t have an answer to the problem right now.”
I guess I have to ask a couple of questions here . 1- Is the High School an open campus during lunch time or are students required to remain on campus during these times ? 2- What percent of students are on the ‘Free Meal ‘ program ? OK I have Many more than 2 questions . Is it required that students reveal their Legal Status in regards to Citizenship ? How long are the lunch breaks ? Does anyone really think that any teenager is not starving when they get out of school for the day ? Is there anyone that cannot not see that this is the First Pitch towards getting a New Cafeteria at tax payers expense ?