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Date: 10/4/2023
SOUTHWICK — After one student’s parent said she was concerned about the length of time allotted for lunches for seventh and eighth graders, the chair of the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School Committee said he was satisfied that it wasn’t an issue.
Committee Chair Robert Stevenson said, when responding to comments made by Kelly Clendenin about the amount of time the two classes have for lunch, that he and Superintendent Jennifer Willard checked in on Southwick Regional School.
“There was no issue with them finishing lunch. Most were done at the 10-minute mark,” Stevenson said during the Sept. 19 committee meeting.
At that meeting, Clendenin said she had recorded 73 parents of students who supported her claim about the length of lunch.
“It’s not enough time and [the students] will tell you they have no time,” Clendenin said, adding that students have been told to throw away food if they’re not finished.
She explained that Southwick Regional School indicates on its website that lunch for grades 7 and 8 starts at 11:25 a.m. and continues until 11:55. Of those 30 minutes, 15 are allocated for recess and 15 are for lunch.
“Obviously, 15 minutes to get to the lunchroom, stand in line to purchase lunch, and find a seat is not enough. This is forcing students to not obtain the free lunch provided by the federal government, and some students don’t eat at all,” Clendenin said.
She also said that eating that fast is not healthy, and that the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Education recommend at least 20 minutes of seated time for lunch.
“That does not include purchasing lunch, getting to the lunchroom [and] washing hands,” she said, adding that every other local school district provides between 25 and 30 minutes for seventh and eighth grade lunch.
Clendenin reached out to Southwick Regional School Principal Serena Shorter, who told her the primary reason the seventh and eighth graders split the 30 minutes for lunch is because of behavioral issues.
Shorter, according to Clendenin, also told her that accommodations are made for students who may require more time. Stevenson, later in the meeting, confirmed that.
He also said he spoke with Clendenin and addressed her concerns, and then decided to visit the school, with Willard, to watch, and time, the two groups of students during lunchtime.
He said the eighth graders were the first in the cafeteria. They had their lunches and were sitting down in less than 4 minutes, he said.
The seventh graders, he said, took a little longer because some of the students had forgotten the code numbers they must enter to access their debit accounts to purchase food. Despite that delay, Stevenson said all of the seventh graders were seated in less than 5 minutes and most were finished eating in less than 10 minutes.
He also said that he and Willard also saw some students misbehaving after they’d finished. Students were throwing broccoli, he said.
Stevenson suggested that any of the parents who supported Clendenin’s stance on the limited amount of lunchtime to contact Shorter. He said that if eighth graders need extra time, they can stay in the lunchroom instead of taking recess, and seventh graders can start lunch at the end of the eighth graders’ lunch, if needed.
Stevenson said if accommodations can’t be made with those students after contacting Shorter, and then Willard if needed, the School Committee could then get involved.
“This is not really at our level,” he said.