By Anneliese Duong
The third of four House of Representatives meetings took place on Thursday, March 18. Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) administration continued answering questions and addressing students’ concerns.
Here are the topics that were discussed in the meeting.
Can we open more lunch lines?
FVHS is always encouraging student workers to work during lunch. Students can apply by talking to head of the cafeteria Carmen Murphy. At the moment, opening more lines is hard because they are understaffed.
Is it possible to offer water for free at lunch?
COVID-19 changed the dynamics of how the cafeteria can serve and provide food to students. When it comes to water, FVHS used to give out small water bottles but it became inconvenient.
The water bottle refilling stations recently opened back up and the district plans to implement 100 more by next year. Cups of water may be offered during lunch in the near future.
Can we expand the lunch menu?
The district will work to create individual menus for every school so that it appeals more to the schools’ students. Students can view the cafeteria’s menu for the day, a month in advance on Nutrislice.
Can we increase the amount of bagels and yogurt distributed?
Murphy already increased the amount of yogurt parfaits distributed from 100 to 600 every time it is served. The cafeteria will continue to ask for more ingredients for bagels and yogurt parfaits.
Can we fix the ice cream vending machines?
Unfortunately, the ice cream vending machines will permanently be removed. Many students received melted ice cream, which makes their money spent worthless. The machines have to be removed so that this problem doesn’t occur anymore.
Following that answer, the cafeteria may look up to storing ice cream inside its freezer for students to purchase.
What will next year’s schedule look like?
According to Education Code Section 46142, next year’s schedule will not start until 8:30 a.m. This means that zero period will not count towards instructional minutes. There will be a traditional one-to-six or one-to-seven period schedule to fulfill the 64,800 yearly minutes.
How can we improve traffic in the parking lot?
The staff parking lot opened this year so that parents could easily drop off their child. Before, students could only go through the student lot but now there is traffic in both the student and staff parking lots. The biggest concern is parents abiding by the rules and direction that FVHS lays out every morning.
The Fountain Valley Police Department may have to start ticketing parents who do not follow the rules and stricter regulations will be enforced. This includes administration walking around the student parking lot more often to monitor parents who park in a student’s spot.
How can we decrease littering on campus?
The opening of the school’s dining room in the cafeteria should help limit the amount of trash left across campus.
Can we increase communication on senior announcements?
Assistant Principal of Activties and Athletics Hayato Yuuki is currently drafting an email outlining a senior timeline from April to June. The email is set to be sent before spring break so seniors should regularly check their email.
An additional concern at the meeting was the extended school day when on assembly schedule. School days used to consistently end at a set time so there is an unknown reason as to why there are four different ending times this year. Principal Paul Lopez and the bell schedule committee will ensure that future schedules end at the same time every day.
