Debate Over High School Lunch Policy

By Ed Moser

Richmond District police refer to the area around George Washington High School as the "forbidden zone" because of frequent complaints from residents and merchants about students disrupting the neighborhood while on their lunch breaks.

Every day students from George Washington High School hit the local streets during their open-campus lunch and create what police and school officials describe as a general nuisance.

"Kids are kids," officer Mark Lundin said. "Complaints happen every day - occasionally they're very serious."

Students are almost always to blame for resident and merchant complaints in the area over loitering and burglary, according to school officials.

Linda Plack, the school's dean who used to patrol the community during lunch, has seen it first hand.

"They loiter and vandalize, they sit on resident's stoops," Plack said. "They spit and smoke - it can be real bad."

Residents petitioned last year to close the campus during lunch but were only partially successful, limiting students to a five-block area on Balboa Avenue and prohibiting them from driving during lunch. The school board is now considering a new petition from residents that would completely close the campus, like most other San Francisco high schools.

Some residents say the complaints are exaggerated and police and school officials are unfairly blaming students for the actions of a few. According to resident Craig Bezelman, closing the campus would be too broad of a punishment.

"I've had minor problems with students loitering, but I've also had problems with my eight year old," Bezelman said, who lives one block from the school. "Most of the time I just love being surrounded by the youth."

Local merchant Zaid Aryaa, who works at the Better Foods Market across the street from the high school, says students generally behave themselves and are good for business.

"I've had a couple problems but most are well behaved all of the time," Aryaa said.

Better Foods only allows four students at a time in the market, a policy many local merchants have adopted to discourage theft.

"There is more shoplifting with a lot of people in the store," Aryaa said. "The rule protects good kids from a bad reputation."

After adding officers to the beat, the police department now has three officers monitoring the campus and surrounding area. But even with more units on patrol, watching over the 2,500 students attending Washington can be overwhelming for officers, according to Lundin.

"George Washington takes up a lot of our time," Lundin said. "It's like its own different city."

Plack said keeping students on campus during lunch is the only solution to the problem.

"Pressure is on from people in the community to close the campus," Plack said. "I think it would have a positive effect."