The new schedule at Roosevelt High School this year has cut out unstructured Social Emotional Learning (SEL) time, which in previous years had extended the lunch period for an extra 30 minutes. In a survey of 25 students, 96% rated the new schedule as “terrible.” Unfortunately, the change “was absolutely required,” according to Principal Tami Brewer.
Section 28A.150.220 of the Revised Code of Washington mandates a district-wide annual average of 1,080 instructional hours for high schools. Brewer explained that during an audit last spring, Roosevelt was flagged for “not meeting the state-expected instructional minutes,” since neither lunch nor SEL time qualifies as instructional.
Despite this requirement, Tony Fues ’25 said that the 20 extra minutes of instruction has not improved his education by much. “When the time is spread out among classes like this, it has very little positive impact.”
As a leader of several clubs, Camille Rochon ’25 has found it difficult to adapt to the shorter lunches. “I don’t go anywhere but clubs during lunch,” she said, adding that “there’s just a lack of focus in my afternoon classes that I notice that didn’t happen last year.”
William Arnold ’25 finds that there is not enough time to study during lunch anymore. “[I] used SEL time to
work on homework…I now have to spend more time working on my studies at home, where it’s harder to study.”
In previous years, Arnold was able to attend two clubs on Wednesdays, when lunch was an hour and 15 minutes long. “Now, thanks to the much shorter Wednesday lunch, I had to drop a club which I had been a member of for years, which was difficult.”
While the new schedule adds five more minutes to four of six class periods, many students find that the shorter lunch harms their ability to socialize, attend club meetings, and learn.
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