The 1-Hour Lunch Theory

Would we be too greedy to ask for more? For those that don’t know, at Nashville School of the Arts we have a special lunch time called “40’s Block” on select Thursdays. Lasting a little over two hours, it is separated into 3 blocks that are all 40 minutes long (hence the name “40’s Block”). Clubs, lunch, tutoring, free time with friends; we have it all. It’s a student’s chance for independence with their time and whatever they’d like to do with it: either chat with their friends or fix that 53% they have in Biology. As fun as that sounds, this only happens on certain Thursdays.  It’s not every Thursday because sometimes we have an Activity block schedule for conservatory performances and SET block.

Though the question in today's article is, “Should NSA incorporate a 1-hour lunch on every school day,” we won't be providing you with an answer. However, from our countless amounts of interviews and information, we hope you can form your own answer!

We started our interview journey where the heart of lunch is: our lunch ladies, Ms. Rose and Ms. Alene. The backbone of NSA’s cafeteria. When we asked them their opinions on the long lunch system – to our surprise –they not only gave us an opinion, but also a glimpse into the old NSA. Ms. Alene answered first, saying, “We need time to fill up the line.... since we have such a small space, and we only have one section now. Back in the day, we had two lines, but now we’re short staffed. We need to make all this food in such a short amount of time, and we can’t put all this stuff out. We constantly fill up the bins. So, [we] just [need] time to prepare.” Ms. Rose answered with a simple, “Anything the principal says.”

After having asked our own lunch staff, we wanted to hear some success stories from other schools. We reached out to Ms. Jamie Hall, Assistant Principal of Pearl Cohn High School, and asked her a few questions via email regarding their 1-hour lunch. First, we asked Ms. Hall if there had been any complications arising from the 1-hour lunches. “The issues that we noticed when we had 1 lunch were lack of control,” she wrote. “It was a challenge for the administration because of some of the petty, unnecessary behaviors that occurred during this time.” However, they have found a solution to their problem. Due to the new bell schedule provided by the district, they now have 2 extended lunches on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which are called “CCR” (College and Career Readiness) days. They continue their 30-minute lunches on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. She stated, “This flexibility allows teachers and students to have time to either be social, in specific areas of the building (lobby or cafeteria only) or they may engage in study hall with a teacher.”

Usually, during an NSA lunch of any length, we have our two groups: those who follow the rules, and those who misbehave. Unfortunately, this will likely give us a bad rep during a consistently longer lunch. At Pearl Cohn, they struggle with the same problem. We asked Ms. Hall if there was a rise in misbehavior during the 1-hour lunch. She provided a simple response: “Yes, there were definitely more negative behaviors noted, again, this was due to not having structured activities during this time. If we decide to have 1 lunch, generally it is during spirit week with specified activities which help curve potential negative behaviors.” So, according to Ms. Hall, there are negative behaviors in the mix, but they have found solutions to those problems by keeping the lunches planned, instead of having a 1-hour lunch every day.

We then moved to the dirtiest part of our questions: how much trash they accumulate after their lunches. Ms. Hall stated, “Our students do a great job of not leaving trash in the hallways during our extended lunch time. It is my opinion that due to them enjoying the longer lunch, they are more intentional about keeping common areas clean in an effort to continue enjoying the privilege.” This is a good argument and evidence that students can behave during a 1-hour lunch, even if it’s due to the sad fact that students will behave only when they want something. This may keep our students in line, like our Senior Patio, where our Seniors have the privilege of sitting outside for lunch.

Reaching out to many different schools in the district, a lot turned us down or simply ignored our emails. Though not all of them…in addition to Pearl Cohn, one other school was kind enough to reach out and answer our questions about their lunch schedule: Hume-Fogg Academic High School. Assistant Principals Dr. Bonelli and and Mr. Stanley were given the same questions and provided detailed answers to all three questions. They also interviewed one of their own students for a different perspective.

Hume-Fogg student Hannah Mosher replied, “Pro(s): The long-block of lunch is especially nice for seniors at Hume-Fogg to go out and eat downtown with their friends, without worrying about timing. Non-Freshman students are able to eat almost anywhere in the school as well, and it is a really nice social break for everyone to sit on the floors and chat.” 

She noted that there were very few cons, but mentioned, “When I eat school lunch, there can be limited options, and there is a big rush to get in line so it doesn't take forever.” However, she concluded, “I do think that MNPS High schoolers would benefit from a block lunch! Hume-Fogg's lunch is a great break for everyone, and it would not be anywhere near as enjoyable if my friends were split into different lunch blocks.”

Regarding our first question focused on the making of 1-hour lunches and the thought put behind implementing them, Dr. Bonelli wrote, “We have one lunch period, but it is different in length on single days versus double days. Single days are 40-minute lunch periods and double days are 50-minute lunch periods.” She mentioned a shift from multiple lunches to one single lunch, stating, “There was a focus on every student getting to know each other…because our students are not necessarily from the same communities, as we pull from all over Davidson County. The biggest pro is that students get to see and spend time with friends instead of just passing by them during class change. It also breaks up the day by giving them a longer lunch period.” Dr. Bonelli also commented that a single lunch period has other benefits: teachers can socialize with each other, they can have school-wide activities like their Titan Ball tournament, and student clubs can meet and include everyone “since they all have the same lunch time.” Mr. Stanley commented, “Additionally, our students are able to leave the building with a teacher for a ‘walking field trip’ and some teachers opt to use the longer lunch period to go out to eat with their students.”

We were also curious about the misbehavior (if any) and even possibly trash issues at Hume-Fogg. Mr. Stanley stated, “Anecdotally, I would confirm that the longer lunches tend to give rise to misbehavior at the beginning of the school year, for freshman especially. However, as we address the behavior and set expectations, that subsides.” He added that lunches closer to a full hour were “even harder to manage because the students just get bored and antsy.” Regarding issues with trash, Dr. Bonelli stated, “Our students are good at picking up after themselves…Worse case scenario: if students leave trash in an area repeatedly, we close that area until we learn to clean up after ourselves.” She noted that the long lunch “can be a hassle, especially on double days, because students may have too much time. However, discipline data does not show an increase during our lunch hour.”

The third and final question we gave was more about their lunchroom staff and how they manage through a single hour-long lunch. Dr. Bonelli replied, “It is certainly busier to have one lunch period, but after our renovation we have more space for students to spread out. Because one lunch hour cannot hold the entire school in the cafeteria, we allow students to eat their lunch on other floors. For our staff that work in the cafeteria, one lunch period is not troublesome. Once students get their food and settle, some of us can move about the school and visit other students and staff while some staff stay in the cafeteria. Our nutritional staff is great at getting ready, but I do wonder which they prefer.”

Mr. Stanley ended his responses by noting that while a long lunch “gives an opportunity to include additional programming and activities for the students to build culture within the building,” he wouldn’t want it every day of the week.

Thank you, Pearl Cohn and Hume-Fogg High, for taking the time out of your day to answer our questions for this article.

Now to Nashville School of the Arts: a school with two 30-minute lunch periods on regular schedule days, and a lunch period that lasts almost two hours, only on some Thursdays. What do you think? Should NSA have hour-long lunches on regular schedule days and eat together as a family?

We turned to our king, our superior, our commander: Dr. Thomas. We asked him three questions and he provided three answers.

The very first question we asked the Man was, “Do you have any thoughts on having a 1-hour lunch for regular block days? (1 long hour lunch, similar to 40’s block where students have freedom of going wherever they’d like.)”

Dr. Thomas writes, “I understand the appeal of the 1-hour lunch. In fact, our decision to create and sustain 40s block was partially influenced by calls from students and faculty to allow greater freedom for students, provide opportunities for clubs/meetings during the school day, and to give faculty a chance to interact/collaborate with colleagues that they wouldn't normally see otherwise.” He then goes on to talk about PLT and the scheduling issues we would encounter:

"One of the biggest obstacles to incorporating a longer lunch on Wednesday/Thursday is that the time would have to be pulled from somewhere else - most likely PLT. We strategically chose to place PLT at the end of the day because A) It keeps us from pushing long block academic classes to the very end of the day, B) It's the most convenient time for guest artists to come work with students in Arts areas, and C) it allows for convenient transition to afterschool rehearsals."

He continued, "To eliminate PLT (which is what it would take to create a W/Th long lunch) would, in my opinion, do more harm than good. Between 40s block and PLT, we have a healthy balance of academic, artistic, and social opportunities for faculty and students."

The second question we asked him was, “Do you have any thoughts on how our lunch system is already? Do you have any negative or positive outlooks on how it performs?” He answered with a very simple, “I feel that it runs smoothly. Everyone gets served and has adequate time to eat/socialize. Our kitchen staff, custodians, and Ms. Naomi do a wonderful job!”

The last question we asked was addressed for the future of our lunch staff: “Would you hire more lunch staff if you added more time to lunch? If so, how many?” To this, he answered, "I don't directly hire school nutrition staff. If we ever made a big change, I would consult with the leadership in that district department for the support we needed.” So, it looks like this situation unfortunately isn’t up to our lovely principal, Dr. Thomas.

It seems as though Dr. Thomas stands with our students, however, our opinions and predictions are still divided. In conclusion, it looks like a beloved 1-hour lunch is not in NSA's future—only to remain in our dreams.