The Days Creek Charter School cafeteria is a historical room in our school, but because of the historical significance it is increasingly more difficult to make changes to the cafeteria. Though the kitchen is more modern, the eating facility is terribly outdated and not made for the students it serves today.
Built when our school was enrolling fewer students, the cafeteria has become a room that just doesn’t fit our student body anymore. Tall students struggle to get to the tables due to the beam that makes the ceiling shorter than it already is, the tables are not made for high school students or the space.
Talking to some students and staff, most had the same opinion that the space just isn’t adequate for how our school has grown from when it was first built.
“It’s small, it’s in the basement,” senior Justine Hudson said. “It just doesn’t give a cafeteria feel.”
Other students mirrored those opinions about the small room.
Talking to staff members they also brought up the size, many staff members bring up the noise, how it gets loud and the noise travels to the main floor causing the students that are in class to get excited.
The lunch room isn’t just short. It’s short in square footage, the room is narrow and when the tables are down the area is hard to navigate with only about a foot between each table bench. It’s difficult to get out of the cafeteria because of this issue.
Superintendent Joe LaFontaine noticed the cafeteria’s size was when he came to Days Creek in 2023.
“To say it’s outdated, doesn’t capture just how outdated it is,” LaFontaine stated. “It looks like it wasn’t built for high school and middle school students.”
La Fountaine wants to make a change to the cafeteria situation. He has proposed a concept to our community for a community center, that could not just benefit our community but also benefit our school as a cafeteria. Though if it does get approved there will be a tax increase through a bond levy, which have typically been a tough sell for area voters.
