At lunch we were told that some of the teachers didn’t like that a lot of kids were coming into their classrooms late from lunch. Sometimes I’m late coming back from lunch, but it’s not my fault. It’s not most of the other kid’s faults either. People who don’t go to this school might wonder why we’re being late without it being our fault. The answer: Our dismissal method.

How our dismissal works is that we wait until the bell in “silent mode” and then get dismissed table by table very slowly. Some tables that are misbehaving get held until all the other tables leave and then get dismissed after being talked to by the teachers. Then we begin the next period. You might be thinking why the heck I think this is a bad method. The misbehaving kids get punished and the good kids go on time. But that is not always the case.

If one person at a table is acting up, then that entire table is blamed, which isn’t fair to the quiet people who are sitting there. And sometimes kids switch tables and so they hold a table that they weren’t even sitting at. Also, kids in the hallway make a lot of noise when getting back to their classes in the hallway, and they get stopped for a few seconds. This causes people in the back who are being good to be late. This is what the students can do to help solve this problem. If you don’t like being late and being held, be quiet and you will get back to class on time.

Here’s what the adults at lunch can do to help solve this problem. Waiting until the bell to start dismissing tables is a terrible idea because dismissal takes so long and sometimes goes on after the late bell. Also, adults start at different places in the cafeteria, and sometimes a table that is being very quiet will be one of the last to be dismissed because there are no adults near them to let them go. It’s not fair! But this is the system that we use every day, and I bet a lot of students want a different system. So I created one. 

Instead of starting dismissal right at the bell, start it a minute or two before. Don’t dismiss tables one by one because that takes forever and makes the quiet kids stay longer. Dismiss all the tables at once. But there’s a catch. Before dismissal starts, decide which tables are being held and keep them in the cafeteria while all the other kids go. Then let go about a minute before the late bell. No more kids are late, and the held kids have to stay longer but also get to class on time! But again, it’s partly up to the students to be quiet in the halls so we don’t repeat the problem. 

I like my idea better than the current way, and although it probably won’t be our actual way of doing things, I just wanted to point out to the adults who run lunch that it isn’t just us students who are causing the holdup. Maybe our method of dismissal is more to blame.