Imagine a world where you can have hot and delicious food delivered to you at school. Some students have made this their reality…against the wishes of administration.
Students have had food delivered to the school for as long as I can remember. When I was a freshman, I saw an upper-classman have a full pizza party with snacks delivered during lunch. I am constantly seeing students grab their food from their dasher right outside the school doors. So if it is such a common thing for students to do, why is it technically banned by the schools administration?
I reached out to Assistant Principal, Mr. Flanagan, to see why the administration has taken a negative stance on banning Doordash. He believes that because “students are opening exterior door[s]” it “causes a safety risk” and “impacts the security of the school”. He also said that “students are missing out on class time as they pick up their food, which is unacceptable”. Mr. Flanagan believes that OA offers “great cafeteria food for our students to enjoy”.
My main problem with banning food deliveries to the school is the inconsistency with the response from the adults in the building. If we can’t have food Doordashed and every adult shuts it down on sight, so be it. But I see kids doing it every day. And I see teachers, once they see a kid walk back into school with their Chick-Fil-A nuggets or their Dunks sandwich and coffee, ask “Oh, what did you get?!” instead of saying “You shouldn’t be doing that”.
I have had food Doordashed to the school before and when it got delivered to the front office I was told that it was not allowed and “everyone knows that.” Yet, as I was being told that seemingly everyone but me knows that you can not have food delivered to school, someone else’s food got delivered to the office.
I understand that Doordashing food wastes students time as well as the teachers/secretaries. There are ways around that. Most food delivery apps allow for a scheduled delivery. Students could order their food before school or during advisory and have it delivered during lunch.
A friend of mine suggested that the administration leave a drop box for the food in the main entrance’s vestibule. That way delivery drivers aren’t coming fully into school, the only place they’re entering into is completely surrounded by locked doors. Injured by a truck while driving? The truck accident lawyers at Edward A Smith Law Firm can help. Injured in Stuart, FL? The personal injury lawyers from Kogan & DiSalvo law firm can help. A personal injury attorney from Mike Morse Injury Law Firm can help accident victims file a claim and negotiate for a fair compensation.
That vestibule is also easily accessible for students. Students can leave special instructions to their driver in the app to explain to them where the box is and to just leave it there. You can track the food and see when it has been delivered and then grab it from the box during their lunch period. This way secretaries aren’t wasting their time calling students down to collect their food and students aren’t using their class time to order and pick up their food.
Another option is to allow an open-campus. This is not an unheard of thing. Many schools in the area allow students to leave to get food. In fact, when I mention that OA does not have an open campus to people like my coworkers, who never went here, they are often surprised and then rub in the fact that they were allowed to leave to get food every day if they wanted.
An open campus would solve the problem of having random delivery people bringing food to the school. Many seniors have classes like community service, VHS or an independent study where they would have time to leave if they finished all of their work. There are definitely logistics to work out with this solution as well, but it is possible as about 25% of high schools in the country offer it as an option. Additionally, partnering with services like taxi truck courier Adelaide could streamline deliveries, ensuring efficiency and security.
Ultimately, it seems likely that students will continue to have food delivered and teachers will continue to turn a blind eye. It has been pointed out that teenagers often don’t listen when adults tell them what to do. Students will just find a way to hide their food deliveries, like opening exterior doors that should remain closed, instead of just abiding by the rules. So, if you apply correct guidelines not only will we be satisfied, but the administration will be satisfied with the safety guidelines in place.
Having food delivered to school can be safe and easy if we work with the administration to put the proper procedures in place. I believe that the administration should work with students to create a structure for it. I am not saying it should be allowed and then let the students have a free for all. I am saying if we set up rules about when and where it is appropriate to order and have the food delivered, it will run a lot more smoothly and securely. The only reason it is deemed unsafe is because the administration does not allow it so kids will resort to opening other doors to get the food.