Kelsey Cook contributed additional reporting.

Tamalpais High School administration has reduced the daily allotted lunch period from 45 minutes to 35 minutes for the current school year. 

In previous years, the commencement of the lunch period was inconsistent among school days; last school year lunch began at 11:20 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and 12:25 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday. “My understanding is that [teachers] thought that having a common time for lunch was just helpful for everybody involved,” Assistant Principal Kaki McLachlan said. 

Some students and teachers have observed an uptick in tardiness after the lunch period, and believe there may be a correlation to the decreased lunch time. 

“I would be okay with a slightly longer lunch so students are able to eat as well as get back to school safely and on time. The past few years when lunches were longer, I actually noticed less tardiness versus this year,” history teacher Tim Morgan said.

Students have also found it difficult to drive to a nearby store, buy food, drive back to school, eat lunch, and return to class within 35 minutes. “Finding parking is hard enough, and I have to worry about getting to class on time. I already have 13 tardies just from being late after lunch,” junior Zane Yarnold said. 

However, the administration doesn’t think lengthening lunch will result in students returning to class on time. “Students are pushing it past where they should, so what we are having to do is figure out how can we address that, and extending lunch is not going to fix that,” McLachlan said. “I’m sorry you can’t get to Chick-Fil-A and back.”

The administration does not recall receiving any complaints concerning the change in length of lunch time, according to McLachlan.