A problem that seems somewhat miniscule and easy to fix, still hasn’t been and students still do not know why. From fourth through sixth period, the lunchroom is open, giving kids three selections to choose from for their meal. Two out of the three lines serve students with either chicken patties or burgers or hotdogs, whilst the other gives students a taco bowl. The middle line gives students a new meal everyday and only repeats occasionally when there are leftovers. This concept seems simple with minimal problems and confusion; however, that is not the case. Countless students have complained that there is no label to inform them of what they will be served.
When asked about waiting in line for a meal they might not even want, freshmen Michael Mitchell pretty much sums up everybody’s complaints.
“I feel terrible [about not knowing what I’m waiting for]; it sucks,” Mitchell said.
A problem like the one we are dealing with seems to have a straightforward solution: a sign outside the lunch line informing students of the menu.
In response to students’ complaints, Cafeteria Manager Penny Taylor sheds some light on why the sign has not been created yet.
“Well we haven’t found the best way to do that yet [have a sign telling students what’s for lunch], because we have three different lines,” Taylor said.
Other Arlington Public Schools (APS) such as Williamsburg Middle School and Nottingham Elementary School have solved the same issue by adding a whiteboard and changing it daily so it has the up-to-date meal for lunch. Maybe Yorktown can take a page out of the younger schools’ book and use their solution.
Granted, students can go to the Twitter handle advertised all around the lunchroom to check the weekly menu, but surprisingly any link or portal to get to this Twitter page is absent on the school website. Instead students have to embark on a scavenger hunt that takes them from The Yorktown Website Home Page to three different “about us” links to new students and families link then to another portal for new students and families, where you can finally click on lunch. After some scrolling one can, atlast, find a link saying Yorktown Menus.
On top of that, students using their phones to access the lunch menu would require cell service. That’s difficult when praised phone plans like Verizon struggle to get any service on the first floor at Yorktown at all. Since connecting to the APS wifi is hardly ever reliable, the odds are you will be at the front of the line before the page even loads.
The lack of signs outside the middle lunch line informing students what they’re waiting in line to buy has plagued the minds of students and faculty members alike. What seems like a simple solution to an even simpler problem still has not been fixed, and for some time students will still have to wait in line and blindly pay for lunch.
