Did you know students are not allowed to order food to be delivered to Skyline? Or that this policy has been in place for years? 

Although it was mentioned in the Fall 2022-2023 student handbook, there has not been a light shined on this ban until recently. As stated in the announcements and an email home in February, “All delivery drivers with food orders for students will be turned away.” 

But what is the reasoning behind this ban? “We’ve been working really hard to have a safe campus,” says Casey Elmore, SLC Principal, “and any time there’s outside people coming in, it’s a security risk that we have to know of.”  

Principal Cory McElmeel backs up this statement, explaining how frequent access to the school by delivery drivers creates an unnecessary security concern, and the unpredictable timing of food delivery leads to missed instruction. “Assigning a staff member to manage food deliveries for up to 1,400 students is not an appropriate use of our school staff.” 

This year, it has become more popular to order food in class. Skyline’s weekly email stated “we do not allow students to order food and have it delivered to Skyline… We have had an increase of students sneaking out of the building, propping open doors, and meeting up with delivery drivers to collect their food.”

However, this policy hasn’t been as clear to everyone as it may seem. “I ordered food one time, and they said it wasn’t allowed, but if the teacher can get the food for you, it’s fine,” says Sophie Singleton, (‘23) whose recent experience with ordering food raised questions about the policy. “The next time I ordered food, a teacher went to get the food for us. When my order arrived, the office person took my food, and said we couldn’t order food, even with a staff member.” 

As it turns out, students aren’t the only ones who have questions about the takeout ban at Skyline. “It’s very interesting to me that the teacher wasn’t enough to pick up the food,” declares Mary Walker, a math teacher at Skyline. 

At Skyline, teachers are not allowed to give extra credit, take off points for behavior, or grade based on anything other than the students’ performance on the assignment. This means that teachers try to find other ways to incentivize students. “Look at this from a teacher’s perspective,” says Walker. “Picking up takeout for a student is a reward. I had a reward system where I would pick up students’ takeout, and now the administration is saying I can’t do that, so I lost the chance to offer a non-graded incentive to my students.” 

The only exception to this rule is teachers are allowed to order food during their planning hour. “Teachers can order food if they pick it up themselves,” says Integrity SLC office professional Maya Fields-Jacobs. “The only policy is that they’re not allowed to send a student to pick it up.” 

This approach still might not be the most ideal for students, but there’s still a chance to have outside food in class.