This 2022-2023 school year, teachers have planned to only allow students to sit with the rest of their class at lunch. During previous years we have been able to sit wherever we please in order to connect with friends and socialize, as lunch is the only opportunity during the school day when we can do so. Not allowing students to sit with their friends who are in different classes will surely lead to them trying to find other times during the school day to socialize where it is inappropriate and distracting such as during instructional time or in between classes. Forcing them to sit next to the same people every rotation will lead to students not being able to make new friends and will especially harm the seventh and eighth graders who have made friends in their previous years of school and are now unable to talk to them if they aren't in the same classes as them. This is exactly why students should have the freedom to sit with whoever they want to during lunch.