Closed lunch hour serves up some frustration
Closed lunch hour serves up some frustration
By STU MERRY
A solution is imminent that could ease the situation regarding a closed noon hour at Garrison High School.
A meeting was set for Dec. 1 for a group of parents, students and administrators to consider the current policy. Superintendent Steve Brannan said he will draft a contract with seniors and, once signed by the student and parents, the seniors will have an open lunch period.
For the students, parents and school officials, the past four weeks have been difficult. But at Monday’s Garrison School Board meeting, cutting through the tension to get to a possible solution was like cutting a charbroiled steak with a butter knife.
“It’s been a turbulent month,” said Jill Denning Gackle, spokesperson for a number of parents and mother of a Garrison High School senior.
Denning Gackle was one of about a dozen parents who was at the meeting to voice disapproval over the closed lunch hour policy. The parents requested that strong consideration be given to allowing seniors the privilege to have open noon hours.
School administration, after an Oct. 19 drug task force sweep of the school, closed the lunch period to all high school students beginning Nov. 2. During the drug search of the school that led to the arrest of one juvenile for alcohol, authorities told school officials there was a “residual drug odor” on some coats, backpacks and vehicles.
While there has been mixed feedback for the move, what didn’t sit well was that the whole student body was affected by the actions of a handful of students.
