Hybrid learning is an option a great amount of Huntley High School students have chosen to partake in for a while now. However, some students are wondering if eating their lunches in their car, instead of the cafeteria, could become an option for their convenience and safety. Allowing students to eat in their cars will open up more space in the lunchroom, making it safer for students because there will be less people in an area. The less people, the better, especially with masks being off while students eat. 

“Prior to COVID and the school closing, I always sat with friends at lunch and never thought to go anywhere else. It made my day ten times better. With hybrid, you are not guaranteed to be sitting by friends in the lunchroom anymore. You could be sitting next to someone you don’t even know. With being able to sit in our car, we could have friends join us and sit together.  As long as we’re responsible, I do not understand what the issue would be,” Junior Hailee McQueen said.

This new adjustment would also work very well with students who have social anxiety. If they can spend some time alone or with people they like to be around for their lunch period, it can bring them enough comfort to get them through the school day. However, the school has decided this rule for a reason.

“Students must remain seated and in the seat they are checked into so that contact tracing [can] be completed should the need arise.  It is also part of our COVID protocols that students are not up and wandering about to maintain that ability to accurately contact trace if we are alerted to a possible COVID-19 case,” Associate Principal Kempf said. 

Allowing students to walk to their cars for lunch could make it slightly harder to trace students, but it is not impossible. Students who are willing to have the car option could scan their ID’s at the doors notifying the system that’s where they have been for that hour of the day with the same scanning system that they have in the lunchroom. As much as the wandering part goes, students will only be going to their cars for their lunch hour and then back to whichever class they have next.

This decision would prioritize the safety of students by allowing them to feel more comfortable having their masks off and being able to eat their lunches without having to worry about the plenty of people around them. The more students that are able to eat in their cars, the less students are in the cafeteria; making it easier to clean with less chance of the virus spreading. 

School will begin to open five days a week after spring break for students who are choosing to go hybrid, which now means more people will be in the building. The amount of students in the school will make it easier to spread the virus, ultimately putting more of a risk to staff and student health. Allowing lunch in cars can greatly reduce the risks of more Covid-19 cases, and will create more space in the school itself for students. So, allowing this to become an option for hybrid students will  greatly reduce the spread of Covid-19, open up more space in the lunchroom, and prioritize the health and safety for hybrid students.