The bell rings at 12:48. Lunch is over. It’s time to go to your next class and find somewhere to sit, but there’s a problem. All of these seats are extremely dirty, covered in food and sticky sugar, all because of students eating lunch in the neighborhoods and leaving a mess.

There is a school-wide rule that states that no outside food is allowed in the neighborhoods. At first glance, this rule sounds fair because it seems like it would prevent neighborhoods from getting dirty, along with the fact that less people eat outside food compared to school lunch. You don’t want slushy mixtures of what was provided on today’s lunch menu on your desk. 

But, most of the mess seen inside the neighborhood is the school lunch. So why should people that order food should be penalized? Why should the students that feel for something like Chick-fil-a or Wingstop suffer trying to find somewhere to sit after standing in the lunch line for so long? Many students also bring food from home. Shouldn’t that be considered outside food as well? The student body deserves a deeper understanding on what is considered okay and what isn’t. 

The student body’s opinion on this rule is  just as most would expect; The feedback is mostly negative. “ The rule of the neighborhood outside food eating isnt very liable because it’s just pushing the mess elsewhere while still having a mess in the neighborhood.” says Kai Hampton. As you walk around Lamar, you will notice that the neighborhoods are messy, but they get cleaned regularly, while the rest of the school sits with trash, old food, and last week’s lunch trays, attracting bad odors, rats and cockroaches. 

The students of Lamar can do better. The student body is full of very young and intelligent students, who are very well capable of cleaning up after themselves.  An 11th grade English teacher, Mr.Zamora, says  “The students and teachers should be taught and teaching in a clean environment. Since the rule of “no outside food” has been implemented, the problem has become better but, I think more thought should be put into the school investing in a cafeteria.” 

The student body should come together as a whole and solve this problem. Cleaning up after ourselves, taking care of our learning environment to make sure that we’re all comfortable and clean.