I am a student at Pasco High School in Dade City Florida. This school year, 2018-2019, the school board has decided to reduce lunches to 30 minutes not only at Pasco High but also Zephyrhills High. At Pasco High with a school population brimming around 2000, a small cafeteria, and only 3 lunch periods... things have been crazy.

My first day of school, I went to our new homeroom. I’d like to think this was anything other than a 20 minute babysitting period, but it’s the biggest waste of my time in my entire school day. There is no real purpose to homeroom other than to take away 20 minutes of my lunch. Why? Not sure. According to Pasco County Schools, students only need 30 minutes to buy, eat, and throw away lunch. While this sounds like a good idea, it’s not. Pasco High has a student population around 2,000. Let’s say we divide this number between 3 lunches. That’s about 667 kids who attend these lunches. Let’s say that 1/3 packs their lunch/doesn’t buy lunch. That’s still 500 kids that have to buy lunch. If you are not aware, at Pasco High there are only 2 lunch lines that serve “standard” lunches. There is a third lunch line that sells more expensive items, and there is usually not a line there as no one wants $4 chickens tenders. On the Junior/Senior side of the cafeteria, there is a salad bar, which also does not get a fraction of the business the “standard” lunch line does. That means, HUNDREDS of kids per period have to go through the lunch line to buy their lunch. Anyone else have an issue here?

The first day I walked into the cafeteria, the line to buy lunch from BOTH standard lunch lines was OUT THE LUNCHROOM DOOR. Kids were STILL in line to purchase lunch with 5 minutes of the period left. That’s right. 5 MINUTES. 5 minutes to eat. 5 minutes to sit down. 5 minutes to relax and maybe socialize. 5 minutes to go to your locker. 5 minutes to go to the library. 5 minutes to do ANYTHING is not enough time. We cannot take the lunch anywhere else, because teachers don’t want us to eat in their rooms bc 15-201 is NOT the cafeteria!

Speaking of teachers! This hurts teachers as well. Teachers now do not get their 50 minute planning period as they previously did. While ishe’s regarding teachers well-being has never been a concern of the PCSB, this is a direct employee drawback. How can you use your first 20 minutes of planning when you’re handling 10-15 students? You don’t.

My first day I didn’t think this was a big deal, maybe just growing pains. Then on my second day of school, I was the kid with 5 minutes leftover to eat. Finally on my third day, I learned that to eat lunch I needed to race everyone else to the cafeteria. That sentence makes me sad.

Maybe you don’t mind any of what I just said. Maybe you aren’t convinced. Well let me switch gears on you. If you have a child dual enrolled, then you’ve been talking to a guidance counselor this week! Maybe even the principal! I have NUMEROUS friends who tell me they have been assigned homerooms that they cannot attend due to dual enrollment classes, and others say they have their classes in the morning and their homeroom in the afternoon. Let me explain.

Your last class on the PHS campus is 2nd period. Then, your homeroom is 5th period. THAT MEANS, you have to either stay on campus, no class and wandering aimlessly, FOR 3 HOURS. Or you can leave and come back in 3 hours, inconveniencing parents or students. Not a big deal unless you put gas in your own tank. you don’t need me to tell you gas ain’t cheap.

As I’ve stated, ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED IN HOMEROOM. You WILL have a bad attendance record for missing homeroom, and you WILL NOT qualify for ontrack. Imagine being an honors student, and you don’t get recognized because of a new homeroom put into place. What does that dual enrollment student do? How is that logical? Fair? How does that benefit our student body? None of it is for the student well-being.

I don’t know what logic the Pasco County School Board had when forcing it’s hand recently on Pasco High and Zephyrhills High, but 30 minutes to eat as an adult in a cubicle is not the same as 30 minutes to eat in a Title 1 public school. I am tempted to stop buying lunch all together. I even encourage my peers to stop getting lunch from the cafeteria. But the reality is that some kids don’t have the means to pack their lunch, and those are the kids who are hurt here. Your lunch lines that are a 25 minute wait to buy food hurts those kids most. Without you, they will not eat lunch. How can that be okay? This has to change. Things need to revert back to our 50 minute lunches. Homeroom is babysitting that requires attendance, and hurts Dual Enrollment kids. 30 minute lunches are a joke, and hurt those who rely on that time to buy and eat lunch. This was not in my best interest. This was not for the kids.

Pasco County Schools you need to fix what you’ve broken!