Salina South High’s lunchroom is a place where students are able to eat breakfast or lunch with friends. Being able to get time outside of a crowded classroom is refreshing especially after a long morning. However, students need to be aware of the disciplinary rules that go with the lunchroom.

    Students should follow the same regulations that they would in a classroom. One example of this is not to run around in the lunchroom. At lunch students should be seated most of the time, unless there is the need to use the bathroom or talk to a friend. When in the lunchroom, students should also stay in the commons until dismissal.

    Christopher Barkley, a conditioning and personal fitness teacher, has experience being a lunchroom supervisor.

    “Despite popular beliefs, unsupervised high school kids being around where nobody else is, isn’t a good thing,” Barkley said.

    Keeping food on the tray is another problem during lunch, but should be stopped. Throwing food on the floor or at other people is not permitted, as it results in a bigger mess for staff to clean up. Students should make the janitor’s job easier, not harder.

    “It makes a bigger mess, and takes longer for us to clean it up,” Johnnie Brown, janitor, said in response to unwanted trash. 

    Even with the janitorial staff around the building, students should still be mindful of one’s own belongings. This especially includes students’ own trays and trash. Students should pick up after a finished lunch. If there is trash around the lunchroom, it would be helpful to pick up that trash as well. Keeping the lunchroom clean will benefit the students and staff tremendously.

    “Somebody else will have to pick it up, that’s the problem. I think everybody, by now, knows how to take care of their own trash,” Barkley said.

    While the lunchroom is an open space for students to finally interact with other students, behavioral issues should still be kept in mind.