Dear Editor:

We use the lunch rooms everyday. We use it for studying during tutorial and eating lunch or breakfast. Unfortunately, the the tables are dirty constantly.

Complaints and independent cleaning are the result needing a place to sit down and relax. It should not have to be the student’s job to clean up a mess another student left from earlier that morning who sat there.

The cafeteria tables collect grime, crumbs, and sometimes actual pieces of food. Obviously, it helps if students would pick up after themselves.  In the NHS handbook it says, “As a student, you are expected to exercise personal responsibility in maintaining a clean school environment.” But that is not to say the kitchen staff should not live up to this expectation as well and have supplies accessible to students.

All it takes is a damp cloth or chemicals  and a person willing to check over tables. Just imagine if a student had an allergy to a food that was left on the table and maybe they did not notice the mess at first and ended up with a reaction? A suggestion of a cleaning schedule with times to do table checks and clean tables such as after breakfast, third lunch and right at the end of the day would be a basic expectation. Have a person assigned from the kitchen to do it daily, a student during a tutorial who is willing to volunteer or promote individual accountability via providing supplies from the custodial staff or kitchen.

Leaving tables unattended and left to collect a mess can cause health problems according to a new study, which reveals the “germiest hot spots” at school featured in PRNewswire.  Additionally,“Cafeteria Tables Are Home to Lots of Germs, a New Study Shows” is a recent article in the Washington Post.  Germs linger everywhere and if NHS lets them sit and collect it could become a health hazard. Not to mention when students sit down to study or relax and they rest their hand in semi-dry honey from earlier that morning, or having to sweep of crumbs from the table before being seated.

It should be everyone’s job to clean up the lunch room to make going about  anyone’s  tutorial or lunch period less problematic. The cafeteria should be apart of the kitchen and should be cleaned and kept ready everyday. If given easy access to the proper supplies, students will self-clean. Not only does this make sense, it will make the school look nice and assure cleanliness throughout the environment.

Sincerely,

Clarissa Tveten, senior