In the past few years, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has seen a substantial increase in students. However, some issues have begun to arise as a result. The lunch line is a particular topic of concern.

Students that buy school lunches are faced with a tremendously long line to purchase their meal. This is a trend seen around the nation; according to a npr article published on December 4, 2013, students around the country may only have 20 minutes to sit down and eat lunch. This leaves these lunch buyers with a shorter amount of time to eat than their peers who do not buy lunch. Therefore with only a 35 minute lunch time, lunch buyers use a substantial amount of their recreational time waiting in line.

“The line takes a while, and I have to rush to eat my food instead of reading or doing something else during lunch,” sophomore Ruitao Li said.

This has a negative impact on students, as it leads to more students resorting to cutting the line in order to minimize wait time. Thus, administrators in the cafeteria have to take on the task of dealing with disruptive and cutting students. While this problem isn’t new to MSD, it has been seen in a larger proportion as of late due to school population increase.

“Everyday, [school administrators] are out here and many times have to deal with crowding and cutting,” Assistant Principal Lucille Flynn said.

According to Flynn, these issue are present almost every day; some students are impatient to the point that they feel the need to skip ahead of people who have been waiting in line.

The line presents an issue for both students and administration. With an increasing student body, these problems will likely continue.