During lunch at Bronx River High School, the hallways are often packed with noisy students who discard their trash on the floor. Teachers, who are scheduled to have lunch at the same time, are fed up.

“I use lunch duty free time to eat and take a breather to make phone calls, confer to students or just to get work done…,’’ Charlie Ruperto, an earth science teacher said.

Screaming students make it challenging for him to relax, much less reach out to parents over the phone. To block out the noise Mr. Ruperto tries to listen to music with headphones. “It’s funny because I tend to listen to heavy metal and even then I can still hear them over the music.’’

Bronx River started allowing students to stay upstairs on the fourth floor in its main hallways for lunch during Covid-19 so kids weren’t anxious about being in enclosed spaces and to encourage social distancing, Tene Kelly, an assistant principal said. The option proved popular so the administration made it permanent.

As of now, students have three options for the lunch period from 10:39 a.m. to 11:24 a.m.:

• Students can stay on the fourth floor, where they can sit on the floor in the hallway or hang out in a guidance counselor’s office. They can bring their lunch or grab something from cafeteria coolers.
• They can walk down four flights of stairs to the campus cafeteria in the basement.
• If they are seniors, they can eat outside on the outdoor terrace on the first floor when weather permits.

Typically, the split is about 50-50 with half of the school staying upstairs and the other half heading downstairs, Ms. Kelly said. With a school enrollment of 413 students, that means as many as 200 or so students are hanging out in the hallways during lunch.

Although the hallway option is popular, teachers worry that “lunch recess’’ in the hallways creates safety and sanitation issues.

Rich Himed, a math teacher, says some teachers are afraid to walk to the bathroom during lunch because of the chaos. “Teachers need to use the bathroom but pregnant teachers felt unsafe to go to the bathroom because students are throwing things and shoving each other,’’ he said.

He also worries about students with physical needs, including some who have crutches, trying to walk through the hallways with overflowing trash bins and floors littered with wrappers and uneaten food.

During lunch, Mr. Himed feels like he can’t get a sense of peace or time to recover. “I’ve been exhausted, stressed and upset,’’ he said. “I try to grade and students want to finish exams but they can’t get anything done because the noise level is out of control.’’

Anna Maria Jack, a science teacher, dislikes having so many students upstairs during lunch. “Kids are blocking my access to the hallways, for example using the restroom or accessing the staircase. I like Tuesdays and Thursdays to be quiet for office hours, but I have to tell kids to move away from my door and to be quiet,” she said.

To block out the noise Ms. Jack uses music. “I disassociate or I will play music, but it does not work,” she said. The students are simply just too loud. The most frustrating part for her, however, is when kids bang on her door and pester her.

Regarding safety measures for students, she believes they should all remain downstairs in case of an emergency. “The day back from Regents week, the bomb threat during lunch had half of the kids upstairs and the other half downstairs. Nobody knew where to go for emergencies. Having students on the fourth floor causes confusion; people didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

Ms. Jack says most students, if not all, should stay downstairs. “In a perfect world, students should be downstairs in the cafeteria. I would make it mandatory for sophomores and freshmen to go downstairs; then the juniors and seniors have the privilege to stay upstairs,” she said.

However, a bigger issue is how to handle where kids should go during emergencies such as holds, firedrills or lockdowns. “God forbid there’s an incident,’’ she said. “Years ago a student was in crisis and many saw what happened (or about to happen). God forbid we are put on lockdown, hold. Where do kids go? Everyone is supposed to be somewhere, but they aren’t. Half are upstairs and the other half are downstairs.’’

Mr. Himed has worked with the consultation committee where teachers meet with administration to come up with a compromise. “They know that the admin loves kids at lunch because it builds community and safety,’’ he said. “We argued for upper class upstairs, lower class downstairs and compromise wasn’t met because they never got back.’’

Principal Gregory Fucheck likes giving students a chance to hang out in the hallways during lunch. “There’s no disturbances,’’ he said. “I love the kids in the hallway because I think it gives kids some free unstructured time to be with their friends. I like that I’m giving kids the choice of what they want to do because I think kids should have these choices in school.’’

He says the hallway option also has reduced suspensions of students staying in the stairways during lunch.

“We used to have issues with suspension because during lunch kids would go to other floors since they didn’t want to be in the cafeteria and we wouldn’t allow them in the hallways or a teacher’s room,’’ he said. “Now we haven’t had to suspend a kid for being in the staircase in years.’’

Even so, he acknowledges some teachers have an issue with kids in the hallway.

“Once in a while I have somebody come up and say, ‘Hey it’s noisy,’ but as you know we have two administrators in the halls, (during lunch).” But if teachers want a quiet place, “We don’t allow anyone on the other side of the green doors near Ms. Cavazzi’s room; if someone wants a quiet place they can go there,” he said.

As a teacher and a union leader, Stephanie DeCicco worries about both students and teachers. “The hallways can be difficult to navigate because of all the kids on the floor,’’ she said. “I have almost tripped over the students who sit outside my room while trying to leave my room. As a union leader I am concerned about egress violations, occupancy violations and compliance with the ADA act.’’

She worries about the teachers who aren’t getting a chance to catch their breath during lunch. “Speaking from the teacher’s side, feeling like there’s not a break can wear you down,’’ she said. “Speaking from the union side of things I am always the middle man for teachers’ complaints and it’s something brought up almost every month.’’

Ms. DeCicco has a possible solution: Bring back a supervised lunch bunch in an open space. ”From my perspective, a teacher’s number one job is to make sure their students are safe, so that’s always on my mind. However, as a union rep I have the added bonus of making sure staff feel safe as well. I also think there are other spaces that can be used like the school library.’’

Mr. Himed resents having to work so hard to have a peaceful lunch. “The few times I was able to get peace was by putting a poster over the glass, locking the door and going to another classroom,’’ he said. “I shouldn’t have to leave my room to get work done or be at peace.’’

He likes getting to decide who can and cannot be in his room during lunch. “When it’s my choice of which kid can stay in my room, I don’t feel bad because I chose who to have in my space, when I don’t get to decide it leads to teacher burn out,” he said.

A solution he mentions, along with other teachers, is having upperclassmen upstairs and the lower class stay downstairs in the cafeteria.

However, he believes there should be a designated room for students with anxiety or mental health struggles. “A designated room, for instance the parent coordinator room for students with documented severe anxiety and students with disabilities. I’m a firm believer in mental health but students need help getting from point A to point B. All staff should be on the same page to teach students about boundaries and to enforce them, just like they enforce uniforms,” he said.

Some teachers avoid the chaos altogether. Daniel Butler, the 12th grade English teacher, leaves school during lunch. “I went to the cafeteria one time and it was too loud,’’ he said. “I couldn’t even hear myself speak, there was too much chaos.’’

Mr. Butler believes the cafeteria is a problem for the students and creates room for drama. “Kids would have fights almost every day before my class because there was so much chaos going on during lunch,” he said.

Not all students are fans of lunch on the fourth floor. Absar Rahman, a junior, almost always goes to the cafeteria.

“Well, the reason I stay down for lunch is because my friends are down here so it incentivises me to come down. The hallways also remind me of work and that’s another reason I come to the cafeteria,” he said.

Although going to the cafeteria is nice to escape work for a bit, he believes that students would enjoy their time more if they were allowed additional privileges. “I think everyone would enjoy having more freedom, for instance going outside and having lunch would be peaceful and a lot of people could have fun. I think we could all benefit from more options,” he said.

Albaara Sharhan, a junior, has been going down to the cafeteria consistently since freshman year. The main reason is because his friends go down to the cafeteria. However, he would also prefer more options during lunch. “I would prefer if students had the option of going to the gym during lunch,’’ he said.

While many students choose to stay in the cafeteria there are those who see the hallways as a better alternative. Gabriella Amparo, a junior, always stays upstairs.

“The cafeteria is very overwhelming and that makes it difficult to enjoy my lunch,’’ she said.