Many students at Hinsdale South have been aware of the fight for off-campus lunch led by one of our very own Civics classes. Civics classes do a service learning project where they choose something to change or advocate for in the community. First period civics, led by Ms. Van Hout, has chosen getting off campus lunch. Since the beginning of the second semester, these students have been conducting research, sending emails, pooling resources, and speaking at board meetings. It seems, however, that they’re efforts are in vain.
At the past few board meetings, students have been speaking about off-campus lunch and why it would benefit students at our school. “Students have been wanting this for a long time and our class just decided to finally put the work in.” Says Senior, Aniyah Stakhiv. At the first board meeting I attended, some students explained that they would be able to get some fresh air, unwind, go home, or get an affordable meal that isn’t the same cafeteria food we get every day if off campus lunch was granted. The board did have some questions though. They wanted to know who this would be allowed for. What kind of grades do students need to have in order to participate? Are there legal liabilities? What if students don’t arrive back on time?
Some of these questions were answered by the Principal, Dr. Hardy, at the last board meeting. He explained that “students will need to have C’s or above in all of their classes if they want to be eligible for off campus lunch.” He also said that their attendance “needs to be 90% or above.”
If off-campus lunch is allowed to be piloted next year, it will only be allowed for seniors. The board also wanted to know what precautions were being taken to make sure that parents know where their students are and that students are arriving back to school in time for their next classes. Mrs. Van Hout was talking to my US History class and she told us that there will be a “safe scanner. It will let students scan in and out of school, giving their parents an immediate email of when their child leaves and comes back to school.”
As for keeping students in line, there will be many rules set in place for the kids participating in off-campus lunch. For example, if a student is late to class more than three times after coming back from lunch, they lose off-campus privileges.
Some students who aren’t in period 1 civics expressed their concerns about how the board is handling the situation. Gabby Tangorra asks “why does the board seem to be pushing back making a decision on off-campus lunch?” Lanie Chen feels that “the board has already made up their minds and they’re just trying to let us down easy.” Both of these thoughts are valid- and I can’t speak for everyone- but if you’ve been to one of these meetings, you would probably agree.
Almost every student at South would be a fan of having off-campus lunch. Even if you can’t drive, we have Chi-Shack right next door. With everything that students and teachers have brought up to these board meetings, it seems like there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to leave campus for our lunch breaks. Yet for some reason we can’t come to an agreement. Usually, when a group of people are elected to make decisions for a school, they should listen to the needs and wants of the people who elected them. I guess the board of District 86 likes to do things differently.
