On August 18th, 2022 Ridgeview High School had their first lunch all together. This was rather unusual because last school year was divided into two lunches. Everyone was used to the freshman and sophomores for one lunch, and juniors and seniors for the other. This year it’s been decided that all grades should share a lunch together.

     Junior-Issac Contreras thinks that the combined lunches are fun because you are able to interact with all the different grades and how it is more efficient to get lunch now because the Quick Cafes are added so everyone can just go there or to the cafeteria. Sophomore-Kristyana Munoz feels that it is way too crowded and feels way too smothered. She thinks it’s good that everyone is trying to get along, but she doesn’t like it because there were a lot of fights at first and everyone is just all bunched up together.

     Principal Roger Sanchez states that they evaluated over the summer that because of the change of schedule instead of starting 8:20 A.M, it is now at 9:00 A.M. This was not the KHSD choice, but the state of California’s, because of lunch being pushed back farther into the day kids wouldn’t eat until later. The second lunch would start after 1:00 P.M so that was past the time that they would need to have eaten, so the one lunch was kind of a plus side to that. Sanchez says, “There’s a lot of benefits to going to the one lunch. Which would be club activities, the link crew students who work with the freshmen can now actually meet with them because typically they wouldn’t be able to meet with them, so we thought those were some good reasons to be able to give a little more of an adhesiveness to the campus.” 

     The outcome that Sanchez is hoping for is that we could live with the one lunch, Ridgeview High School did add some extra cafeteria lunches out on the quad called Quick Cafes. These were added so it would be easier to eat lunch since all the four grades are all together. Being in the cafeteria would get cramped but with the Quick Cafes, it cuts down some time. He does admit that they weren’t very thrilled for the 9 o’clock start time for this school year but they are making it work. 

     Cons to the one lunch are that there are more students in the quad area making it more cramped and everyone is in their own place but being in a bigger group. Next school year they would need to evaluate if we would go back to the two lunches next school year, but it is too early to say how everything is going for all the students. They have to see if the rain, heat and all the weather types will affect everyone having to find a spot if either or happens. So at the end of this school year they will re-evaluate if it is making any progress.