Dear Manuel J. Rivera, Superintendent of Schools

I understand that the current lunch protocol does not allow high school students to leave school for lunch, but as the time changes so should the laws and restrictions. In order to let students distress in their only free time of 45 minutes for lunch, they should be able to leave school to be in a comfortable, stress free environment.

In order to ensure the well being of our students, we should be allowed to leave school for the 45 minutes out of the 7 hours we spend in school. Leaving could simply mean going home to eat our own food and relax, or go to a food restaurant to eat and study. The 45 minutes we have for a lunch period should be a free time for us to relax, unwind and maybe even get ahead on some homework, in a comfortable environment like Starbucks or Panera, or maybe even just our own home. We clear our minds and take a break so that by the time we have to be back at school, our minds are recharged and ready to take on the rest of the day. Many students do not like the lunches the school serves; in fact some even find it unsanitary and not very edible. Why should we deprive our students of having an edible meal of their choosing?

Should you be thinking about how to make our schools a better place, think of this; letting our students leave for 45 minutes would allow the school to be a happy environment, everyone would come back from their lunch break refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day.

Best regards,

Savannah Kayal