Keeping it Under Wraps: Westside Enforces New Food Rule

Before the new food rule, I have walked down the halls and seen wrappers and food scattered around the floor. It was blatant both teachers and students were struggling for a clean environment. This semester, Westside High School has implemented a new food rule in the school. No more food will be allowed to be carried outside of the courtyard unless you do not have a lunch mod. In that case, you have to get a pass. Regardless, many students are upset about it, and wondering why this new rule is so strict. Mrs. Bergman has supported this idea from the beginning because of the  first hand experiences she has had.

“[I] love [the new food rule] because we were starting to get issues like mice and bugs,”  Bergman said.“I literally had a cockroach crawl across my desk. I’ve seen mice in the hallways and the amount of trash in the hallways [since the food rule] had gone down.”

Bergman has seen many students disrespect the school environment countless times and thinks that the new food rule will help with this issue.

“I’ve watched people drop something and they’ll turn around and look and see that they dropped it and keep on walking,” Bergman said, “They don’t care. They think it’s like a ‘magic floor’ and it’ll just disappear. Somebody really picks that up. When they do that it’s not just disrespectful to the building, it’s disrespectful to the people in the building. I don’t think it’s everybody [who are disrespectful], but I think it’s enough people that the rule is necessary.”

Bergman hopes that students and teachers included take the new food rule seriously.

“[The food rule] is there for a reason,” Bergman said. “I know everybody has a different reason for not wanting to stay in the courtyard. It’s hard when I see teachers do it, like walking away eating food. I always think ‘well that’s ironic’ because I see them walk past the sign by the cafe. I hope that teachers take it seriously as students do”

Bergman understands why some students would be upset by the new rule, but regardless, she stands with the rule one-hundred percent. For me, I’d have to agree with Bergman on this issue. Don’t get me wrong, when the rule first was implemented I thought it wasn’t fair for students who were respecting the school to have the rule apply to them. But as weeks have gone on, I noticed our school has become a lot cleaner, and as a result there has been an increase in respect. Respecting this rule will show custodians and the staff about the integrity we have as students and I think that is extremely important.