Gilroy
– On his first day of high school, freshman Daniel Gonzalez
didn’t eat lunch. Neither did most of his friends. The lines were
too long, he said, for them to make their way to the front, buy
food and eat it, all in half an hour.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – On his first day of high school, freshman Daniel Gonzalez didn’t eat lunch. Neither did most of his friends. The lines were too long, he said, for them to make their way to the front, buy food and eat it, all in half an hour.
The second week of classes is nearly over, but Gilroy High School staff and students still are working through the kinks of feeding 2,400 mouths in 30 minutes. The first day of school, many students say they shared Gonzalez’ experience.
Part of the reason, administrators say, is back-to-school excitement, with students all crowding near the front of the gymnasium, where there are several lunch lines. The upper-classmen and freshmen all seem to go there, because that’s where everyone seems to be. Principal Bob Bravo said on the first day of classes, the students were packed “like sardines” on that end of the quad, with few venturing out toward the other lunch lines.
Enter assistant principals Mani Corzo and Kat Hannah, using a couple bullhorns to direct students to other areas of campus where they can buy lunch. Areas not readily visible from in front of the gym, like the lunch cart behind the gym, or the one near the theater.
Another factor for the crowding is construction on the new student center, which will be located just next to the gym. To ease traffic between the two buildings, one-way traffic is being imposed. To get to the lunch area behind the gym or to the “cafe” where students may purchase or receive reduced price or free meals, they must walk around the rear of the building.
“Even before all this – last year and the year before – a lot of freshmen have trouble knowing where to go,” said Greg Camacho-Light, assistant principal.
Joseph Dimas and his friends, including Gonzalez, were standing on the grass in the shade just in front of the gym, a stone’s throw from the major crowd Wednesday afternoon. None of the boys were eating lunch.
“It’s hard to get because of the long lines,” said Dimas, a freshman. “They’re already filled up by the time I get there.”
Plus, the lines at the gym are the only place that sells the fries he prefers to eat, and those seem to be the longest. He said he went behind the gym for lunch once, but it took too long to walk there and get back to where his friends congregate.
The lunch cart behind the gym is near six new portable classrooms, that replace rooms demolished to make way for the student center. The cart was added this year specifically to keep some students in that area and ease crowding. By the third and fourth days of school, the administrators’ advertisements seemed to be working, and students were catching on, Camacho-Light said.
The wait at the cart behind the gym was just a few minutes Wednesday, but it was a different story at a cart near the administration building, where students stood for more than 10 minutes in the scorching sun.
“It looked like it was faster,” said Nicandra Barrios, a freshman.
She and pal Danielle Payne, also in ninth grade, said they have never felt like they have enough time for lunch.
“We have two-hour classes and we only have a half-hour lunch,” Payne said. “Usually, it takes 20 minutes just to get food.”
Sophomore Ben Wilson says he avoids the lunchtime crowds altogether.
“It’s easier if you bring your own – I don’t have to wait in lines,” he said.
There are no plans to extend the lunch period or to create two lunches, Bravo said.
“I think we still feel we need to do more advertising, but that’s all the directing we’re trying to do right now,” Bravo said.
Advertising seems to be working with students who receive reduced price or free lunch. They have been turning out in higher numbers, despite a startlingly slow start. The number of breakfasts sold, however, still lags behind.
“Friday was like a normal Friday last year,” Camacho-Light said. “We still have to monitor it. Even matching last year, we need to serve a whole lot more.”
As administrators visit classrooms to familiarize students with the school handbook, they will specifically mention the free and reduced meal program, he said.
Lunch was only slightly affected by a fire from a food service barbecue propane tank that scorched the gym wall Tuesday, Camacho-Light said. On Wednesday, the area remained fenced off and probably will stay that way for a couple weeks before it’s completely repaired, he said.
Camacho-Light wasn’t sure whether the propane tank was faulty or had been inspected recently. He also said the replacement barbecue would need to be up to code and located in a more open space, farther away from walls.
