The new SMART Lunch bell schedule was released a couple days before the start of the second semester — students were shocked, to say the least, at the new schedule requirements.
“I saw the lunch schedule changes the weekend we got back to school, it was a shock. I knew the school was threatening to shorten lunch or change it, but I didn’t think they actually would. I acknowledge the fact that lunch isn’t quite like it was last year and that things were starting to get out of hand, but the thought of a change in lunch never surfaced in my mind,” said Nathan Bowyer, sophomore.
Students were warned multiple times about the possibility that Smart Lunch would disappear and be replaced with a more structured substitute. According to the Leesville SMART lunch announcement, students have failed to maintain the twenty-percent attendance of school tutorials.
Only under the circumstances that students could not keep up a twenty-percent attendance rate would a change in lunch schedule occur. In failing to sustain the required percentage, Leesville’s forty-five minute lunch with optional tutorials was taken away.
“Since students couldn’t keep up the twenty percent attendance of tutorials and multiple fights have occurred during lunch since first semester, my opinion is that the best thing for them is more structure. The new lunch schedule allows Leesville to give them [students] that structure,” said Michael Foster, school clerical.
While other students were surprised at Leesville’s sudden decision, some expected the change in lunch schedule. Many students figured that a change in the lunch times would come sooner rather than later due to the decrease in lunch tutorials and increase in fights during lunch.
According to the Leesville SMART Lunch announcement, grades have dropped in the first semester, most likely due to lack of tutorial attendance. Some students did not take the effort to make sure their grades were where they needed to be.
“I wasn’t really all that surprised that they [Leesville] made changes to the lunch schedule. Since the first semester, lunch here has been a disaster. Now that I think about it, I honestly feel that the new lunch changes are the best thing for everybody. Lunch is definitely more serene,” said Ashley Brown, sophomore.
Leesvilles new SMART Lunch schedule now has a mandatory class check-in for students before lunch. Students spend the first four minutes of their lunch time period in one of their four classes starting the week of February 6. Each day of the week corresponds with a student’s class schedule, except for Friday, which is a “free day”. Leesvilles new smart lunch emphasizes that both the administrators and teachers are hopeful for a successful second semester.
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