A Hunger-Inducing Schedule At NHS
A Hunger-Inducing
Schedule At NHS
To the Editor:
One of the issues that the Board of Education has been examining recently is the lunch schedule at the high school. As a result of a split schedule system which has been in place for many years, there are presently 280 students who do not have lunch between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm on Mondays, in violation of state law which mandates that students be assigned a lunch period during that time. Some of the students are assigned a lunch period as early as 7:30 am and others have no lunch period at all.
The administration has been attempting to resolve this issue on an individual basis by providing adjustments for complaining students or their parents. In addition, plans have been formulated to send letters with waivers to all affected individuals, allowing parents and students along with the blessings of school administrators, to violate state law. Parents and school officials are not setting the best example when they allow students to be put in an unhealthy situation and compound it by violating a state law.
Recognizing that it is very difficult to change the high school schedules at this time, I suppose that the use of waivers might be the only solution during the current school year. However, I strongly urge the Board of Education and district administrators, including the newly appointed high school principal, to plan a school schedule for next year that provides an appropriate lunch period for all students on all days of the week.
Creating a class schedule that does not penalize more than 16 percent of the student population by denying them a lunch period at an appropriate time is not rocket science, and I am confident that our new Board of Education and our capable administrators will resolve this issue.
George Caracciolo
Schoolhouse Hill Road, Newtown                          December 5, 2007