When Lindsey Prestholdt walked into lunch her first week of junior year, she was unhappy with the busy environment and enhanced security of the lunchroom.

“It takes longer than it should to get in and out (of the lunchroom) and sometimes that delays me getting to class,” Prestholdt said.

This year, according to Principle Scott Meyers, Park implemented a new lunch schedule, replacing its previous four overlapping lunch blocks with three separate blocks. In previous years, many students were eating their lunches in the hallways and stairwells around the school, according to Meyers.

Meyers said the idea for the new lunches started with needing students to eat in the lunchroom.

“Moving to three lunches was also to help reduce the number of classes that were interrupted,” Meyers said. “Students should have a better idea of when they should be in the lunchroom and when they shouldn’t.”

Junior Maddie Kapel said that she feels that lunch is shorter than last year.

“I feel like there’s less time to eat,” Kapel said.

Junior Haley Hyppa said she doesn’t agree with the lunch schedule changes.

“(The new program) feels very messy and disorganized,” Hyppa said. “Everyone’s mad that they can’t leave the lunchroom and come back in. I think it is upsetting more people than it is solving problems. I would go back to the way things were last year.”

Meyers said the change was part of the decision to renovate the lunchroom.

“We made some realizations that our cafeteria needed some upgrades,” Meyers said. “We increased our seating capacity, but I would also like to think that we humanized it with some different options to make it look more like a food court.”

Meyers said that he perceives the new schedule as an upgrade, but recognizes that adjustments may still need to be made.

“We recognize that we’re learning the new process here,” Meyers said. “We believe that three lunches are a better option, so we can have students understanding the lunch schedule more.”

Meyers said students can express their opinions about the new lunches with the student office, his office or Student Council.