Photo by Julia Nazareth

Students line up outside the PAC for lunch, where they’ve had to eat since school started.

Since the start of the school year BHS students from grade 8-10 have been eating in the Performing Art Center during lunchtime as work has been going on in the main cafeteria. Originally that work was supposed to last three weeks, but it has stretched through the month of October.  Now the cafeteria is set to open this week. 

“It doesn’t feel right eating in an auditorium,” said sophomore Marcelo Diamantino. He, like many other students, dislikes  the PAC turning into a cafeteria for longer than planned. 

The school always knew they had to upgrade their ventilation system in the cafeteria, so they began to take action over the summer, but they ran into a problem when they found asbestos, which is a hazardous material that can cause cancer if ingested or inhaled. 

“We found asbestos and had many ways to get rid of it,” said BHS Principal Elizabeth Freedman. The company upgrading the ventilation in the cafeteria detected this dangerous asbestos and informed the school so that they could take action. Knowing that asbestos causes cancer, it was too dangerous and harmful for the students to be inside the main cafeteria, so they had to come up with the decision to move everything to the PAC, said Freedman.

Although the work was necessary, many students dislike dealing with the PAC. “The cafeteria has more food options,” said freshman Miguel Monteiro. 

Cafeteria workers have set up outside the PAC, and originally just served cold lunch options. But when the project went on longer than expected, they brought back the savory hot lunches including hotdogs and corn dogs.

“As long as we feed these little lovely kids, I’m all for it,” said cafeteria worker Nicole, who declined to give her last name. “But I can’t wait to get back to the cafeteria so these kids have much more options and I can see them smile much more.”

It has also been more work for the lunch servers as they have to deal with taking the food back and forth from the junior/senior cafeteria. 

The main cafeteria is scheduled to make its comeback next Monday, Nov.6, but the school is still waiting for a sign-off to completely open the cafeteria. 

“It has not been easy for students, but you guys are doing fantastic,” said Freedman.