Attention Parents, Students, and Staff of Wood-Ridge Jr/Sr High School,

The class of 2022 and 2023 have started this petition to allow ourselves and future classes to eat at local businesses and restaurants around town during lunch periods. 

Being a teen, food becomes really important to us. Our bodies change, and our appetite changes. School lunch, for the most part, a lot of us don't eat. It doesn't hold you for the rest of the day, most people don't like the selection of food given, and not a lot of food is given. Most students become hungrier after lunch since we didn't get enough to eat. This causes an issue because the hungrier we get the more distracted we will be during classes.

We sit in classrooms ALL day. No sunlight, and no fresh air. Just the captivity of some grey walls and a hallway cramped up constantly with other people. Taking a break from the school, the odors, and the captivity would be appreciated. Refreshing our minds before the next few classes would really help us focus more, and be in a happier environment.

Since the start of the 2021-2022 school year, school lunches have been free for all students. However, you are not allowed extra food, and the snack stand has been closed. While this is a good thing, A lot of students would prefer the freedom of being able to choose how much we would like to eat, where we would like to eat, and what we would like to eat. 

There are plenty of local restaurants within blocks of Wood-Ridge High School: Buffalo's. City View Kitchen, Jersey Pizza, and Bachi 197. These local businesses could really benefit from having over 100 students order and eat there.

Classes before us have been able to go outside to eat on Fridays, and there has never been an issue, so why can't we do the same but every day?