Students organizing opposition to Seattle Public Schools’ seemingly sudden plan to split high-school lunches

We’ve heard tonight from multiple West Seattle High School students about an announcement that apparently affects most Seattle Public Schools high schools: Starting next Monday, less than two weeks into the new school year, high-school lunchtime will be split into two. Here’s a screenshot of the announcement sent to WSHS families. One WSHS student, Lemuel Turpaud, asked us to publish this message about it:

I am a member of West Seattle High School, their ASB, and many clubs, and I have an important message to share to the community. Seattle Public Schools will be requiring all high schools in the district to change from one unified lunch to two separate lunches on Monday.

This proposal will kill clubs at the high school. Last March the West Seattle Rocketry Club reached out to the West Seattle Blog, and from our amazing community received over $1,200 to fund our rocketry competition. This support from the community allowed for the team to continue their project, and have financial safety going into the next year. Now with the change of school lunch policy, the Rocketry Club and other student run clubs will be facing a much larger problem than funding. Splitting the lunch period divides students’ only shared free time to meet and join clubs. This decision will kill many clubs, specifically the smaller clubs that are created as passion projects by dedicated members of the school; Rocketry Club being one of those.

Students districtwide from almost ten schools are planning on walking out on Monday, September 15th ,if the policy is not reversed.

We ask the West Seattle community to stand with us. Please contact the school board and urge them to preserve a unified lunch period so student clubs, opportunities, and community can continue to thrive. Thank you.

– Lemuel Turpaud, Class of 2026

Another WSHS student sent the link to an online petition about this plan and other changes/problems in the district. We will be contacting the district first thing in the morning to find out more about this change (including why it, and the bell-time changes that will result, wasn’t implemented at the start of the year).

ADDED WEDNESDAY NIGHT: No explanation from the district. Our inquiry was answered with exactly the same verbiage used for last night’s announcement.

jim September 9, 2025 (11:03 pm)

Back in the 60s Sealth had a 3 lunch schedule. So It’s not a new thing.

Bill#1 September 10, 2025 (6:10 am)

In 1963-1965 and maybe a few more years in the 60’s — there were over 2000 at WSHS — how’d we ever manage?
BreadCats September 10, 2025 (8:22 am)

You’d also only just gotten integrated schools nation wide. Just because something was a certain 60 years ago doesn’t mean it’s good to move backwards.
Mickey B September 12, 2025 (10:15 am)

All due respect, high school is considerably different than in the ’60s, when getting into college was pretty simple compared to the current state. Students need a roster of activities that simply didn’t exist even 3 decades ago (when I was in middle/high school). Clubs and groups empower students to get engaged, connect with others, learn, and develop skills. By switching to a two-lunch system, this will disable the programs in place and put SPS students at a marked disadvantage compared to their peers that are applying for the same colleges. It seems minor, but has major impacts. Additionally, SPS has provided no tangible reason for this shift, further frustrating families and educators. SPS is broken, bureaucratic, and manages money and change poorly. This is yet another example.
- Melissa Westbrook September 13, 2025 (8:26 am)
  
  Actually, the district does provide reasoning but, in my opinion, it’s about union issues. Which is very sad for the students and goes against the district’s governance which says students come first.
West Marge September 12, 2025 (2:41 pm)

We had 3000 students at Auburn high until 1993, 3 lunches. We were just fine and saw all our friends after ’93, the district split up Auburn High into 3 schools. My graduating class was the largest in the state!

Eddie Watling September 9, 2025 (11:06 pm)

I am disgusted at how SPS has been treating us as of recently. They have been pushing us around too much. I am so glad that the petition I made was able to gain traction.

What the what September 9, 2025 (11:20 pm)

Ridiculous! Who’s making these seriously boneheaded decisions? As I understand it, half the students will have to wait until after 4th period to eat, that’s almost 2:00. Hungry students don’t learn, duh. I think parents and medical professionals will not allow this. Students SHOULD be outraged. I fully support the walkout!

addie September 9, 2025 (11:30 pm)

as a student affected by this we’re trying to make a change with learning anything we can and using our voices so thank you for the support, please follow @onelunchsps on instagram we’re trying to spread awareness to everyone
- Paul Barclay September 10, 2025 (1:23 pm)
  
  You’re doing the right thing here.And there‘s a lot of good techniques from the union/industrial action world that can be used here. I’d bet the teachers hate this change, but it’s hard for them to protest it, and they wouldn’t have much effect. The students, on the other hand… this is a change where it’s possible for the entire student body to just simply say “no”, with only minimal disruption to their own days. If one student skips a class, that student is in trouble. If every student skips a class, that’s a problem the principal has to solve. And if they’re skipping classes with a good message (that this is a huge negative impact for the district’s most driven and engaged students), that means the news makes it a problem for the district. If there’s a couple of weeks where no students show up to any class scheduled over the original lunch time, the district is going to catch heat from everyone. And if principals know this is coming, they’re going to push back hard on the district (the district caved due to pressure over school closures last year; they’ll cave again on this with enough pressure).
Sunrise Heights September 10, 2025 (7:39 am)

I would like to get a better understanding of why the change is being made. Sealth has had two lunches MTThF as long as I’ve had kids there. My daughter currently waits until after 4th to eat. She seems fine with it and so far isn’t falling over in the hallways. However, this change means Sealth has to lose the one long lunch period they have had on Wednesdays, which they have done to allow for longer club meetings. I’m sympathetic to that argument and am interested to hear SPS address how students should organize and participate in those kinds of activities. I also would like to hear more about the reasons cited. Information sent to Sealth parents listed staff and food service workers contracts as one of the reasons (and also something that made no sense about making sure kids have time to eat lunch, but I don’t see how this change improves that). I also know SPS likes to scapegoat CBA’s and organized labor for unpopular decisions. Just wondering if there’s more to the story. As far as I know, contractual agreements have not changed, but maybe they did. If not, why now?
- Lemuel September 10, 2025 (12:45 pm)
  
  Yesterday at school, the WSHS student government had a talk with the admin, and it sounded like some of the reasons cited by the district were the influx of students going into the community and stressing local businesses, available seating indoors for students, the number of people getting lunch food at one time, and equitable time for skills center students to get lunch.According to our ASB advisor, last year we had some of these problems come up, but we fixed all of them except for the first one for our school. Talking with a skills center student, they state they have over 90 minutes of free time every day between the skills center and their fourth period class.SPS has not been very transparent about this change, so I am just as in the dark as you are.
  - Sunrise Heights September 10, 2025 (1:59 pm)
    
    Lemuel, this is a less dramatic change for Sealth since they are used to two lunch periods every day except Wednesday, but the change on Wednesday is still going to be disruptive and limit opportunities. I would encourage you to reach out to Sealth’s ASB and organize together. It would be great to see the students of both schools uniting over something, and in the spirit of collective action, you are stronger together.
- Annika September 10, 2025 (8:25 pm)
  
  To add to what Lemuel is saying, the problem of lack of indoor seating wouldn’t fully be solved at WSHS because many students eat in the hallways and classrooms. Even half of the students wouldn’t fit into the commons.
  - TQ September 11, 2025 (2:35 pm)
    
    It might not fully solve the problem but it’s definitely the best solution available
WSmama September 12, 2025 (8:14 pm)

What is the purpose of the split lunches? Does it actually serve a purpose? Franklin high has an A and B lunch (2 lunches depending on the kids 4th period.) but I just don’t understand the reasoning behind it. When I was in high school 2001-2005 we had 1 lunch! All the kids got to see friends, the teachers had their own time.

K September 10, 2025 (6:25 am)

My high school had 5 lunches. It was a scheduled class period, so your lunch was 2nd period-6th period, depending on the rest of your courses. I understand why this change is jarring, and to be launched two weeks into the year which doesn’t leave time to pivot is ridiculous. But once people have a chance to adjust, everything is doable with multiple lunches.

Brian September 10, 2025 (9:25 am)

When I went to school we ate lunch every 15 minutes and if you didn’t have enough lunch you had to spread it out so some kids were eating like a single chip per meal. Wild times!
Daniel September 10, 2025 (10:29 am)

My high school had 4 lunch periods, but they were all clustered within like 11-1 or something like that (can’t remember exactly). And if you were at 12:30 it was commonly accepted to eat snacks at 10 or whatever. Lunch at 2pm seems quite bad, if that’s what’s happening.
- Lemuel September 10, 2025 (12:54 pm)
  
  Daniel, from the talk the WSHS ASB had with our admin yesterday, it sounded like lunch would start around 12:30-1ish if you were in the second group. I, however, do not have the exact time.The biggest problem is not students being upset about the time of lunch, but rather how this change will effectively kill most clubs, make getting help from teachers in lunchtime significantly harder, if not impossible, and split friend groups apart. All of this is being done when the school year has already started, and there is no fundamental problem to our current system. As a club leader, this change is very frightening for me because it means my club, as it is will not be able to exist. There is very little teacher support for clubs after or before school, and many members of clubs participate in schools, blocking off their time. We only have two club meeting blocks a month, which means students in multiple clubs have to choose one club to join and drop all others. At the school. I am not just the leader of the rocketry club, but also our civics club, which provides civic resources at school, and our AAPI club which hosts multiple large activities and assemblies, which are open to the public community. This new change will force me to drop two of these clubs, where I am a leader.
  - Daniel September 11, 2025 (11:01 am)
    
    I see, that makes more sense then. Start at 1pm still kinda sucks, hope the snack-food-during-earlier-classes policy isn’t strict. Where I went to school we had to do all clubs after hours (or before, for a select few crazy/motivated groups). Doing it during school hours sounds like you could get a lot more engagement, which is nice.
- TQ September 11, 2025 (2:37 pm)
  
  Zero chance lunch starts at 2
Mickey B September 12, 2025 (10:21 am)

No, you’re missing the point that has students upset. This change will evicerate clubs — many SPS schools have 100+ clubs that students can participate in during their lunch hour. Examples include Unicef, Female Finance Club, Water 1st, etc. When you went to high school, my guess is that the requirements to get into a college was different, it sure was different when I applied (early 2000s). Now, students need to show engagement across numerous areas (sports, academics, community engagement, leadership projects, etc). This change will hamper these clubs and put SPS students at a disadvantage when applying to University. Sure, some kids don’t engage, but the majority of these high schoolers do, and they truly care about the programs with which they engage.
SPS HS Parent September 13, 2025 (1:24 pm)

Whether it can be done is not the point. The fact that is being rolled out 2 weeks into the school year is the point. It leaves each school admin scrambling to create an implementation plan and kids whose 4th period are affected literally ONE BUSINESS DAY to decide what to do about the conflict. My kid can’t get her language class now without upending her entire schedule. She’s a junior. This has real implications on kids’ social and academic needs, and is particularly challenging for neurodiverse kids. Why can’t SPS plan ahead?!

Gina September 10, 2025 (6:35 am)

It’s much easier logistically for school neighbors and businesses to have the kids out at one single time.

Rob September 10, 2025 (6:41 am)

I went to Roosevelt HS 1972-76 and we had two lunch sessions back then.

AtleastYouStillGetALunch September 10, 2025 (6:55 am)

I didn’t go to HS out here but my HS in PA was large enough to have 3-20 minute lunch periods…it wasn’t a big deal, lunch started at 1040 and ended by noon but our hours may have been different. In any case, teenagers are highly adaptable with neuroplasticity, the paradigm shift will be annoying for about a month and then it will fade.

Neighbor September 10, 2025 (10:10 am)

What a shallow and dismissive take. You completely ignored the concerns raised by the students.
SPS HS Parent September 13, 2025 (2:12 pm)

Hi,Comments like this really miss the point. We all understand that >1 lunch period is both possible and common. Making this change after the school year is underway is incredibly disruptive to schedules. Literally entire schedules may be impacted because of the domino effect of having to shift your 4th period class. This is absolutely irresponsible to make this change with no warning two weeks into the school year.

sane schedule September 10, 2025 (7:20 am)

We developed a sane, popular and successful schedule at WSHS when we combined a half hour of club/tutoring time to lunch. Students got to eat, get help, participate in clubs (or, yes, sometimes just take an extra long break in their over-scheduled day, heaven forbid). The district forced us to change that too.SPS loves to mandate test retakes and.social emotional learning time, but refuses to give schools the time or flexibility to implement their policies in ways that work for our students.

brizone September 10, 2025 (7:54 am)

Seriously: what is it with the clowns running SPS? How does this kind of stuff continue to happen over and over again over there? wth?

WSHS Parent September 10, 2025 (8:33 am)

A major issue for the school will be kids skipping 4th period and attending both lunches. This will cause massive absenteeism.

Old time parent September 10, 2025 (9:12 am)

The issue is not multiple lunches. WSHS has had multiple lunches in the past. The issue is deciding, a week after school starts, that the schedule must change. This requires a ton of work for counselors and teachers. If this is truly a good or necessary idea, it should have been announced over the summer and implemented at the start of the school year. These students are incredibly resilient and they can handle changes they are just asking that the changes be reasonable.

TQ September 11, 2025 (2:40 pm)

Except not a single person brings that up as a concern.

Rides the bus September 10, 2025 (9:14 am)

I don’t understand why people that went to school 60 years ago think they have any advice that matters to offer today. Why not just listen to the kids? Their clubs are important to them and they want to be able to meet together.

Seattlite September 10, 2025 (10:17 am)

Rides The Bus: Wisdom is a good thing. My opinion is that one allotted time for lunch period is grounded in common sense. I went to WSHS from ’63-’66. Most students ate in the school’s cafeteria. Some who lived close went home for lunch. Today, kids are going to different grocery stores for lunch, fast food establishments, home for lunch. That in and of itself merits one allotted time for lunch period just to have control of students whereabouts, start and end time of lunch so that all students are accounted for when class starts.

WS Neighbor September 10, 2025 (9:26 am)

Good for them! This is another SPS tactic! Like always.

WS Parent September 10, 2025 (9:53 am)

Annually, the WSHS student clubs make a presentation to the WSHS PTSA. It is by far the most inspiring PTSA meeting of the year. Student clubs are a treasure.

Clubs allow students who have unique and diverse interests and abilities to shine. Many students have conflicts after school (sports, music, work, family, etc.) that would prevent club participation. Clubs meet during lunch, which allows all students to participate.

Everyone is concerned about students’ mental health. Everyone is concerned about screen time. Student clubs are very cost effective way to encourage students to put down phones and connect with each other. The issue isn’t simply the time of day students get to eat food. The issue is more fundamental: are we fostering a school environment of friendship, connection, leadership, team work, curiosity, etc. that student clubs foster? I vote for the student clubs.

Lemuel September 10, 2025 (12:57 pm)

I totally agree. For me, someone who is very socially anxious, clubs were a community where I was able to meet like minded people and build friendships. Even outside of clubs, lunch time with my small friend group was one of the few times when I could talk with people and not feel uncomfortable doing it. The change to two lunches will break apart clubs and friend groups, and in the case of some who are very socially anxious and slow to make friends, like me, this will really negatively harm our mental health.

ITotallyAgreeWithYou September 10, 2025 (9:56 am)

@Rides the Bus- I doubt you would be so quick to dismiss an opinion if they were sympathetic to your cause. I take it there will be no need for adults over a certain age to sign the petition or make their voices heard in support of one lunch since their viewpoints don’t matter. Which begs the question why this has been brought to the community at large. Many viewpoints make a well rounded discussion, involving those immediately affected, those that can draw from experience, and so on . You will find that you value your input in the community and think it matters at every stage of your life, even in 60 years. Don’t be so hasty to dismiss others, especially in the same breath you are trying to garner support. That’s wisdom, from experience.

Belvidear September 10, 2025 (10:01 am)

Dear Adults – Your experiences in high school don’t invalidate the experiences of today’s students. Get over yourselves, and maybe consider supporting the youth of West Seattle.

SS September 10, 2025 (10:04 am)

I went to HS in the early 2000’s and we had 3 lunch periods. It’s not a big deal and people should just suck it up. Bring snacks if you have a late lunch and clubs can meet before/after school. As for SPP making such a last minute decision without input, yeah that’s dumb. Of course people are going to be upset.

Seattlite September 10, 2025 (10:07 am)

Where is the information on WHY the students’ lunch time has to be split?

WSB September 10, 2025 (11:14 am)

(a) You can read the linked announcement (in the story) regarding the district’s initial explanation, which is pretty vague.
(b) As I wrote, I’m following up with the district today regarding exactly that question – is there a specific incident, ruling, decision prompting this? – as well as others such as, why now, less than two weeks into the school year, instead of starting the year with the changed schedules. Depending on what the reply is and when, I’ll either add to this story or write a new followup. – TR
- Kyle September 10, 2025 (12:28 pm)
  
  Yeah their release was so vague it tells you nothing.

Dan Keller September 10, 2025 (1:35 pm)

When I was in HS back in the 70’s in Burien, we had two lunch periods and most student groups met after school. It appears there was a definitive lack of communication on part of the district. I live across the street from WSHS and I have witnessed first hand what happens at McDonalds, PCC and Safeway. A lot of parents would not be proud.

HTB September 10, 2025 (1:48 pm)

It is pretty clear that something is forcing the district’s hand here – the abrupt nature and timing suggest this. If there were a strategic reason for this it would have been announced over the summer. Based on the (admittedly vague) reasons given, I’d guess something involving the food service union to be behind this change as that feels like the only entity cited that would have the clout to enforce this. It’s possible that the surrounding businesses are asking for this, but they would not have anyway to push this change through. When an organization as large and bureaucratic as SPS makes a change this quickly, it’s because it has no other choice.

k September 10, 2025 (2:28 pm)

Or they made it a while ago and forgot to tell everyone until a week into the year.
Frog September 10, 2025 (9:37 pm)

One theory on timing: they are currently doing a search for a new superintendent, and might have thought — let’s push through some unpopular stuff now, so the new super can be all about smiles and happiness. As for reason, the first thing to keep in mind is: SPS strongly believes in one-size-fits-all exact sameness. Considering only WSHS, there might be no reason at all, and the reasons are found at other high schools in the city, and WSHS must do what the rest do just because. Principal Vance has no choice. One motive at some or all schools might be cost savings — they can get by with fewer FTE in food service if lunch is spread out a bit.
- k September 11, 2025 (6:34 am)
  
  SPS doesn’t “believe in one-size-fits-all-exact-sameness” they believe in equity, and having the same rules at every school means every kid has the same opportunities regardless of what area they live in. The fact that everyone is okay with CSIHS having two lunches while claiming is it so detrimental to kids at WSHS tells you everything you need to know. The rollout was bad, it’s dumb to start this two weeks into the school year. But the underlying question of whether or not WSHS deserves to have special conditions not available to students at other schools is a solid one. CSIHS has thriving clubs and activities within the schools. Kids there make friends. Yes, it will be an adjustment, but if CSIHS can figure it out, the kids at WSHS will too.

A- Westseattlite September 10, 2025 (3:28 pm)

Socialization has been such a challenge for students since covid, not to mention curating friendships thru friend groups and clubs. Horrible idea, even worst communication strategy after a week of a new year navigating new school for some, classes, schedules. Shame on you as usual to SPS governing body, (and this goes all the way to the top, starting with Chris Reykdal) for creating added anxiety to our students in the first full week of class. And to Principal Vance, you should be ashamed of yourself for the shady, lack of communication strategy, Not the leadership we need anymore, if this is the new role you are going to play. Super sad SPS yet again, but not surprising based on the track record. Sounds like the teachers dont like this either. Hmmmm. Follow the money. Would love to understand the consipiracy here…

Melissa Anderson September 10, 2025 (10:44 pm)

Lame. This sounds like poor planning by the district. Clubs are absolutely important to build connections and community. This cohort missed out on this during a critical time in their development during COVID. Don’t mess with this. Find a better solution, and listen to parents and students.

wsparent September 10, 2025 (11:27 pm)

The district did not give a reason for the splitting up of lunches. My son says the lunch line is not long, nor is it crowded. Are they trying to shorten the lunch so kids will stay on campus? If so, they should have started with that schedule on sept. 3rd.

Pamela September 11, 2025 (10:09 am)

I would like to see the actual link where the student found the announcement.

lol xd September 11, 2025 (10:30 am)

as a senior from bhs, good, i’m glad there’s a walkout. sps keeps getting away with pushing us around with these horrific changes that they make without any of our input because people dont get the hell up and stand up for themselves. i’m not guaranteeing that they’ll change their minds because of it, but maybe being annoying enough to them will at least make them consider our feelings more next time lol, at best we get our schedules back. also many teachers themselves agree this is such a stupid change, so maybe people who went to hs 60 years ago should accept their opinions are not relevant here.

Marco September 11, 2025 (2:04 pm)

LOL, I just received an email from WSHS “7 New School and Community Flyers for Your Child.” The first one has a bold headline in the middle saying “We all need Community.”

Pamela September 11, 2025 (2:58 pm)

I don’t see any announcements from the district. Perhaps the principal, who shared rhe message,can elaborate on where he received the information.

M September 11, 2025 (4:57 pm)

Please sign to support our students’ mental health.https://www.change.org/p/no-more-schedule-changes?source_location=psf_petitions

Eli September 12, 2025 (9:38 am)

Lots of students at CSIHS are also planning to walk out, as we’re losing our lunch time on Wednesdays too, which is the only day we get one long lunch together. This change cuts down our time to less than half our previous lunch time, and basically ignores any time for clubs to meet. The decision on SPS’s side seem like a blatant power play and having read the email, this seems like a decision that benefits nobody on the school side at all. I talked to some teachers at Sealth as well and they also don’t enjoy this, so hopefully the walkout really creates some change.

WSB September 12, 2025 (11:44 am)

If anyone involved in the walkout plan – CSIHS and WSHS – can email us info on what you’re planning – anonymously if you wish – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you – Tracy @ WSB

Facts September 13, 2025 (7:52 pm)

Seattle public schools and teachers are the ones that are encouraging it they are blaming the students. They are putting other kids at risk by going to sodo.

Jennifer Hall September 14, 2025 (2:13 am)

GOOD for you and all of the other West Seattle High School students who are exercising their right to air this grievance, Lemuel! As a club advisor for many years, I know how important clubs are for students. The district needs to LISTEN, and appreciate the reality of student lives. I applaud your efforts, and I am very proud of you!— Ms. Hall, recently retired, sending best wishes from the Netherlands :-)

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