"It is definitely not fun at all. I never get to see any of my friends anymore, and eating lunch at 10:40 is disgusting." said Megan Roach, a junior at East.

"The whole concept of the two lunches is ridiculous. Many people are going to be eating alone now," said Mark Hollaar, at West High. "Also, who wants to eat lunch at 10:40 in the morning? That's usually when I eat breakfast."

"I don't like it, just like everyone else doesn't like it, but it's a safety issue, and as much as it bugs us, there really isn't anything we can do about it," said East junior Aaron Kramer.

But Roberts said some students like the new schedule because they don't have to sit on the floor to eat lunch. She said that before, the school had tables out in the hall and ballroom and there still wasn't enough room to seat everyone.

"Usually, solutions make things easier. What the heck?" Bryan Craven, a senior at West, said.

District leaders say despite some grumbles from students, the split lunch periods are a safer way to get between 1,000 and 2,500 students fed, and they cut lunch lines and reduce crowding.

The Penn State researchers surveyed 228 high schools in Pennsylvania and found 55 had lunch periods that started at 10:30 a.m. or earlier.

About 35 percent of schools considered to have "high" a la carte sales had lunch periods of 10:30 a.m. or earlier, the survey showed.

Often, schools that have early lunches are overcrowded or in the midst of renovations, the researchers said.

---

E-mail: terickson@desnews.com

Contributing: Hannah Owen