The lack of space in the cafeteria at Central Junior High has kitchen staff scrambling to prepare food and students rushing to eat before the next lunch shift arrives.

"Sometimes we don't get to finish lunch because the next shift comes and we have to go to the gym," said seventh-grader Courtney Markhart. "We have to eat really fast."

Last year, the Caruthers Avenue campus housed 10th- through 12th-graders, most of whom took advantage of the school's open-campus lunch policy. Only about 170 students ate in the cafeteria on any given day.

That number more than tripled this year, with an average of 575 seventh- and eighth-graders eating every day.

"We knew from the beginning the cafeteria was going to be small," said junior high principal Lee Gattis.

Gattis, cafeteria manager Barb Pinkley and food services director Lisa Elfink began working on a solution in December.

"Coming up with a schedule for these lunches was a challenge," Pinkley said.

In the end, school officials decided to break the lunches down into six 28-minute shifts, with fewer than 130 students per shift.

But over the past few weeks, contending with six lunch shifts has proven to be a hassle for both students and the cafeteria staff. The shifts overlap each other, which makes some students feel rushed.

"Everyone's just trying to enjoy their food, but we never have enough time. We need more time," said seventh-grader Thomas Dodd.

The lunch shifts begin at 10:50 a.m., which some students consider a little too early for cafeteria staples like goulash and cheeseburgers.

"I don't eat much breakfast because I know I'm going to eat lunch early," said seventh-grader Betty Buhs.

Students who eat during the last lunch shift, which begins at 12:50 p.m., say they have their own problems.

"My stomach's growling by fourth period," said eighth-grader Megan Wright. Wright said she and her classmates ate lunch almost an hour earlier last year at Louis J. Schultz School.

'It's a guessing game'

Students on 12:50 p.m. shift often don't get their choice of entree because the cafeteria staff has no way to accurately judge how much to prepare each day.

"They run out of food by the time we get here," said eighth-grader Renee Moreland. "It happens almost every day. We hardly ever get to pick which main item we want, it's just whatever's left."

Pinkley said it's impossible to tell which of the two daily entree choices students will select each day.

"It's a guessing game. We try to make sure everyone gets what they want, but it doesn't always happen," Pinkley said.

The size of the cafeteria has presented several problems for the kitchen staff as well.

"The kitchen is too small for the staff. We're running over each other," Pinkley said.

The six lunch shifts mean constant cooking so meals are served as fresh as possible.

On top of cooking for 575 students and 20 teachers, the junior high kitchen staff has also taken on the responsibility of cooking for the Alternative Education Center this year.

"Cooking for the alternative school has been a little more challenging than I thought it would be," Pinkley said.

The alternative school serves around 70 students, and the meals must be ready for delivery at the same time junior high students are coming in for their lunch, Pinkley said.

To help alleviate the problem, the school extended the cafeteria workers' hours and hired four more employees.

Making best of situation

But Pinkley stressed that those solutions are only temporary and won't work forever.

"We're making the best of a situation that isn't ideal, but I just can't see my staff doing this forever," Pinkley said. "I have hopes that within five years, we won't be dealing with six shifts anymore. Eventually, they'll have to build onto the cafeteria." In the past, school officials have talked about expanding the cafeteria into a parking lot on the north side of the building. They've also considered moving the adjoining library back onto the top floor of the building where it was originally located and extending the eating area into there.

Superintendent Mark Bowles said administrators and school board members are aware of the lunch difficulties at the junior high, although they have no plans to expand this year.

"The junior high cafeteria is one of a number of issues we're looking at," Bowles said. "We're committed to looking at all the facilities and determining what is urgent and what can wait."

cchitwood@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128