As the commons is set up to be a place to socialize and refuel one’s mind, there are times where that space can be misused into someone’s preference . Lunch periods fourth through sixth are meant for students to either be productive on any homework or simply a short break that has students with their lunch. Unfortunately, students have begun to unfold themselves too much to the point where they’ve been misusing the cafeteria. Students have been piling their trash onto the cafeteria tables and hoisting mountains of trash onto the couches.

Faculty members had noticed these occurrences at the beginning of the semester when they stayed back to supervise one of the lunch periods. Drew McGuire, assistant principal, was the first to acknowledge the issue when he began to notice several of the cafeteria workers doing more than their set role in the cafeteria.

“We have wonderful people who take care of our food service department and clean up after students]everyday, and it’s not appropriate for them to be going out of their way to clean up for the students,” McGuire said. “It ultimately comes down to the students taking care of the place and taking pride in where they go to school, and realize they are not people who are hired to clean up after them.”

As the cafeteria workers prepare for each lunch session, there is more to just serving food on time for each period. Staff members are responsible for preparing food, table, restock, and now disposing of trash after each period.

“The situation has gotten worse from the beginning of the year, and some days are worse than other days,” cashier,Tracy Walker, said. “I don’t like the fact that kids throw food in the cafeteria and we have food all over the floor.here’s even been times where I’ve slipped on grapes and fell to the ground on my knees.”

The cafeteria workers have always delivered the goal of leaving the cafeteria as normal as any other lunch room, but are simply drawn back due to putting in more effort. Although the commons and the cafeteria is left with waste, most of the other students who didn’t take part in the act were left with guilt for the cafeteria workers.

“I feel super bad for the cafeteria workers, in all four years that I’ve been at York they’ve always been super nice to me by even asking how my days are going,” Taylor Tresnak, senior class president said. “They are really nice people and it’s unfortunate that a lot of people don’t care that these older people get to pick up their trash as if they were garbage people.”

As for the administration that has noticed these changes throughout the year, staff members are curious to see what decision to make moving forward. Assistant Principal for Culture and Climate, Tim Dykes, wants to encourage students themselves to take a step into wanting to be a part of a greater community that respects all.

“It’s disappointing, but I do believe it can be an easy fix and I know that 98% of the students in that cafeteria were to leave something on their kitchen table at home, they’d be reminded that it’s not respectful,” Dykes said. “It’s one of the reasons why I put the signs up around the commons that says to respect our house, because we all live here during the day and there’s about 3,000 of us that come in and I’d expect that we would share respect for the place that we live in.”