Lunch Meetings Increase Productivity

By Brianna Bratland and Tawni Reusch

Mr. Theiss, principle of Newman Catholic High School, explained his reasoning for holding club meetings during the lunch hour. 

With all the changes around the school, many wondered why the time club meetings had to be changed.  Mr. Theiss explained the history of the lunch set up and his ideas for the productiveness it will bring to the school. 

When Mr. Theiss started working at Newman Catholic about six years ago, he saw that one lunch was just too much for the school to handle.  With over 200 kids, everyone had to wait in one line to get their lunch. They only had about 30 minutes to get through the line, eat their lunch, and talk to their friends before the next class began.  Students were stressed and frustrated that the lunch line was too long.  Students stuck in the back of the line were only given about five minutes to eat lunch. Seeing this problem, Mr. Theiss and the faculty worked on a solution to put less stress on the students during their lunch time. 

Over the following years, Mr. Theiss split the lunches into two separate groups cutting the number of people in half so people could get through the line faster.  This was a big improvement, but one problem was still in effect.  Students felt like they were being separated from their friends and disliked not being able to eat with them.  Seeing this problem, Mr. Theiss and his lunch crew went to a different school to see how they set up their lunch program and found that their system was effective.  At the end of the 2009-2010 school year Mr. Theiss and lunch faculty worked to create a two way lunch line so they could get twice as many the people through at the same time. 

This year, one big lunch was put back into place because of the smaller number of students we have enrolled, and the two way lunch line has been effective.  One new change to the lunch is the club meetings being held during lunch so that students will have the time to go to them and have a productive class meeting.  When the meetings were held after school, the club authorities felt that students were not being productive in the meetings and the numbers of participants dropped because students just wanted to go home or get ready for their after school activities.

In order for productive club meetings and less stress for students, the meetings are held during lunch.  Mr. Theiss only wants what is best for his students, but not all students agree with this idea.  Mr. Theiss is open to any suggestions on how to make his students happier and more productive