SMART Lunch Not Working Out

Students Maximizing Achievement with Resources and Time (SMART) Lunch is a program that has been set up in a way that students can receive remediation and enrichment during the school day. The 55 minutes during lunch frees students up all at one time to allow them to get caught up with their work. This is also a time for clubs and other programs to meet throughout the year.

This school year, 2008-2009, has been the first year that students in Athens get to experience the lunch program. So far, it has run smoothly, has improved student’s academic progress and has increased the participation in school activates. However, not all the students are using their time wisely. Instead they are taking the 55 minutes given and they either play in the gym, go off campus, or stay in the cafeteria, rather than participating in activities or attending Mandatory Guided Study (MGS) as they are assigned.

“Students spend both lunches in the gym everyday, when I know that at least half of them have MGS but do not go,” says Coach Warwick.

SMART Lunch gives students the opportunity to get a lot of work done. It can be challenging for some students when it comes to organizing their time wisely because they would have MGS, a club to attend and not have enough time to eat. It can also be stressful for teachers when they have a group of students coming in all at once and need to teach them the lesson or let the make up work they missed.

Also, having 55 minutes for lunch is more than enough time to give students to eat and relax. But when students do not use their time wisely, SMART Lunch becomes a problem. Students either spend the whole lunch in one place, or even just walk around the school trying to waste time.

When the underclassmen eat in the lobby in front of the gym, they leave a mess behind them, leaving the teachers and administrators cleaning up after them. This is not respectful or responsible at all; there should be consequences for this.

“Having administrators pushing trash cans around and picking after the students is not right; it is wrong and unacceptable,” says Coach Wheeler.

Overall, SMART Lunch is very good idea. It helps students catch up on their work rather than staying after school or coming in earlier. It is also good if a student knows how to organize their time and manage to go to tutorials or MGS to maintain their excellent grades or also for those who are trying to get their grades up. But the only way they would see the privileges of SMART Lunch is if they know how to use it wisely.

“SMART Lunch is very good as it is continuing to improve through out the years,” says, Chris Titchner.