Last school year, students would use lunch as a time to meet with teachers and get extra help or even finish assignments. It was sort of a study hall for students who didn’t have one.

Many students would benefit from this as a way to get one-on-one time with a teacher who might not have time to set aside time for each student.

If you know me, you know I do many different sports, and I would also take advantage of lunch to do my homework because of my busy after school schedule with practices and games.

Another thing I found so helpful about being able to leave the cafeteria was the fact that people were able to have meetings and do work during lunch to catch up on any work for The Journal.

As of this year, there has been a policy change to the cafeteria. Once students enter the cafeteria and order food, they are not allowed to leave the cafeteria. Meaning they can’t go to other teachers’ classrooms.

I have asked and heard around and other students, including me, disagree with this change and think that students should be allowed to leave the cafeteria.

It is a missed opportunity for students to have extra study time or tend to their needs. It could help students who may have a test the next period and don’t feel prepared enough, or if they missed class and need to talk to their teacher.

There are so many things that students could accomplish by leaving the cafeteria, but they no longer can.

Everyone would take advantage of leaving the cafeteria for their reasons, but everyone benefited from it significantly.

The school is cutting students short of their extra work time that they allowed themselves, whether they meant to or not.

Some students may be thinking that we have iPass to study and do work, but each student has their circumstances and can’t always use iPass as a study period.

Overall, the new lunch policy is an unfavorable change that may create unnecessary inconveniences for the majority of students.