(Image: @ezells_chicken/@
Students at Garfield High School have more on their minds than the potential restoration of a campus cop program.
They’re thinking about lunch and the daily midday rush of gathering with your besties for 30 minutes of downtime and brain fuel.
Monday, Garfield kids will be part of a district-wide protest of a decision this school year that has ripped some of that friend time apart. It’s about more than running across the street to the infamously busy lunch line at Ezell’s.
“Seattle Public Schools sent an e-mail to families about the new two lunch schedule,” an update from the @onelunchsps social media account about the planned Monday lunchtime protest reads. “It ignores everything students have been saying.”
At the heart of the matter is a change only days into the new year enforcing a district policy requiring each campus to split its students into two separate lunch periods. Officials say the whipsawing on the policy that has shifted across campuses from year to year is needed to make sure those accessing student meal programs have enough time to be served and will help with the logistics of lunchtime on a campus like Garfield with more than 1,600 kids.
But the two lunch period decision, students say, tears apart a vital shared time that is needed to organize school clubs and activities and, of course, splits up friends across the two schedules.
Monday, students are planning a walkout and gathering at the district offices to call for a return to a single shared lunch period.
“The district is dismantling the communities and opportunities that make our schools strong,” @onelunchsps writes.
While the kids are there, they might want to make one additional request — more time. Seattle district high school lunch periods are only 30 minutes long.
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There needs to be more lunch options in this neighborhood for these kids. Change the zoning to allow more commercial businesses (both small and big) to open up and provide options for these kids. While I’m sure everyone loves Ezell’s, 23rd ave is a prime corridor.
The Garfield kids seems to do ok including the new small spaces on E Cherry https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2025/05/small-box-making-spaces-for-pjs-classic-creamery-the-shorehouse-and-more-amid-changes-at-23rd-and-cherry/
Joints like Central Cafe https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/06/at-e-cherrys-central-cafe-a-call-to-the-community-to-support-black-owned-businesses/
And all the way down to 23rd and Jackson at Amazon Fresh
I’m surprised that they haven’t moved towards having a closed campus, and prohibiting students from leaving campus for lunch.
When I was at Garfield in the ’80s, there were always two lunches. I can see the problems with club meetings (I think we met after school, but don’t remember). But can these kids really not eat lunch without being surrounded by their entire friend group? What delicate flowers!
It’s a social event. Separating them diminishes this.
Seriously… When having staggered lunches is a hardship.. talk about first world problems. Every school I ever attended had several lunches periods. We all survived. Apparently with a ton more coping skills too..
Seriously? It’s good enough for the Boomers. But not the current generation. Also money for schools seems unnecessary after abolishing the dept of education.
We are 3rd world now if you’ve not noticed?
Not a boomer here, but you go ahead and make assumptions… If you didn’t notice we always pass school initiatives here, always. SPS has an enormous budget… but this isn’t even about any of that. It’s about kids not being able to cope with the smallest amount of change.
Did I say you were a Boomer? I read it 5 times and it’s unanimous. I did not.
“We” are in debt 6 Billion dollars to public education says the state sooper court so. Whatever. And by the way. We are lucky. It’s the rest of the zip codes with no money that suffer. But that’s “they” so it’s fine right?
None of that makes any sense… No matter how much is owed, that doesn’t change the fact that SPS has an enormous budget. It’s almost 1.5 billion per year these days. Not does that change that we, as a city, dutifully approve every school related tax initiative put before us. That goes to the whole district, so again nothing to do with zip codes or whatever you feel like screaming about today..,,
None of it makes sense to you. Tat’s all.
The facts are there. The math is easy.
And by the way?
The schools are falling apart. Teachers pay is low and 1.5 billion is not what it was worth 10 years ago. Never mind 20-40 years ago.
The tax cuts is what’s killed us. The deregulations. Reaganomics and trickle down.
37 trillion in debt and they closed the dept. of education to “save money”.
Whatever dude…Ya ever think it’s just you man?
Maybe its time for adults that have consistently failed to mete out a better world together despite their superior upbringings, to let kids have this one.
Nah, there are completely valid logistical reasons behind the change.
Yup…So to solve that problem we are extending the lunch break 20 minutes!
Problem solved. BAM! No money needed.
But smoothoperator, this might really fuck up parents fealty to work and themselves!
That you honestly think it’s so simple is telling… you can’t just make the school day 20 min longer without affecting everyone and everything… you think all the employees are just going to volunteer to do the extra time?
And yes, 1.5 billion is still a ton of money. Seattle probably ranks around 4 or 5 for most spent per student in large cities.
I’m going to fucking lose it if the lunch periods are back to back and constitute a 60 minute period anyway, and we’re really arguing 2×800/60 is completely unworkable if it’s 1×1600/60 instead. I did catering gigs when I was younger and that sounds like some Spinal Tap mental block – if we have to serve 1600 meals at max potential, they all have to be available at minute 0? We can’t have two service periods at Minute 0 and Minute 30? and make the school day 30 minutes longer cause…
Derek Smalls is at 1/2 chub right now. You made his day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kZsLCNy9lE&list=RD6Kjz89xYmS4&index=3
I am struck by the fact I have a legally mandated 60 minutes for lunch and kids, by the nature of being unwanted wards of society, get 30 minutes.
But this is what the kids voted for!
Oh wait…
Thanks Obama!
extend lunch to accommodate the students?
Can’t change the school bell schedule without concessions from the teacher’s union, especially if going to a 45min lunch would extend the school day by 15 mins
Oh boy do I know that. Maybe union put their “we care about students” Bonafede’s on the table and change it so they get an extended lunch. If lunch is an hour hypothetically. That’s too long for a lot of schools. We are mostly talking the big schools. We should at least have 45 minutes for lunch. Quit trying to turn meal time into cattle care and feeding time.
In the USMC? We got an hour and fed 1800+ Marines in the chow hall. Chow is a moral booster. To mess with it is suicide. Moral plumets. Messing with chow time berry berry bad. I am 60 but I remember lunch.
I do find it hella rich that ‘adults who know better’ don’t think kids have morale to keep up and are constantly the only people who don’t get kids acting out.
Or that squeezing teachers pay would attract “the best and brightest to mentor our precious children of the 3rd Reich.”…Or wait…That’s Trump U.
Then denigrate the crap outta teachers as a failure. Close the dept. of education.
How about we squeeze cops pay. Denigrate them to powder and close down the force infrastructure and workforce entirely. Nothing but ICE and Homelander protecting us while the FBI dutifully processes them through our finest in the world court system where everyone gets due process. Everyone gets a phone call and their day.
This is ‘mercah.
While I sympathize with students, there is no logistical way that 1600 students can be served in 30 minutes. I went to 3 different high schools and every single one had staggered lunch periods. There is a reason for study halls and free periods in HS, and it’s for the reasons those students listed. Students boycotting staggered lunches shows how little they understand of the logistics of running a business. And I am NOT pro SPS, I have huge issues with the district, but in this case, I side with them.
it’s an educational institution. Not a business.
They are KIDS! No kidding? They are not business tycoons? I am shocked. Shocked I tell you.
I am pretty sure they can’t even vote/have a say. So you and your business principles are secure for now champ
Maybe they should extend it to 1 hour for lunch then, hehehe
The little bastards should have to punch a clock and be frisked by Seattle’s finest and “special” agents from the Trump administration. An off duty Pope maybe.
Garfield axed advisory. There are no study halls. There is no open time in the day at all where students can gather for clubs, affinity groups, etc. Having clubs at lunch was *already* not ideal, given that it’s difficult to eat and do whatever business the club has in 30 minutes. Now, there is no time at all in the schedule for this.
Garfield is hosting its annual “club fair” tomorrow, despite having no scheduled time for clubs to meet.
Almost every single thing not related to learning from a book have been cancelled for money. For tax cuts.
Since when do clubs not meet after school….
I wonder how long many of these clubs will last under these conditions. They certainly aren’t being given the time they need to be sucessful.
Do we know how many students bring lunch from home? If even 100-200 of them are doing that, it makes it just a bit easier to serve everyone, especially when time is tight.
Get rid of the surveillance cameras
Get rid of people who shoot kids
We can do both
Major- Tell everyone how the Garfield surveillance cameras that already captured a murder changed anything about what happened or brought any sort of justice?
And this expands time and space to make it possible for 1600 kids to be served lunch in a single half hour how?
Because man…
Everyone knows that stacking the lunch tables 5 high in the lunchroom is totally doable.