Concerns Heat Up Over Cafe Overcrowding at Hale-Ray High

In an effort to resolve overcrowding concerns at the Nathan Hale-Ray High School cafeteria, an open dialogue between  parents, school officials, the Board of Education, and the fire marshal has ensued for the past few months.

The overcrowding concern was initially sparked by a parent during the Jan. 11 Board of Education meeting. According to the superintendent's report on the issue, "During the 'Audience of Citizens' portion of the meeting, Mrs. Terry Dickinson expressed her concerns regarding the current lunch wave seating arrangements at Nathan Hale-Ray High School, citing the capacity of the cafeteria and students sitting in the hallways during lunch as the focal point of her concern." 

Superintendent Dr. Ellen Solek's report of Jan. 26 states that the cafeteria "seats 158 at full capacity" and has "no existing official maximum capacity designated." The report confirms that Eric Spencer, the high school principal, Robert Carroll, the business manager, and the East Haddam Fire Marshal are "currently working together to designate an official maximum capacity" and that the fire marshal has  "stated that he has no objection to the current seating capacity of 158."

According Dickinson's research into the issue, there are approximately "195 to 209 students who need seats" during each of the lunch waves. The remaining students, she argues, are eating while sitting on the floor in the hallways. In addition to health concerns about "who knows what is on those floors" like the e.coli bacteria, Dickinson is concerned about fire safety issues with students and their backpacks crowding the hallway.

Dickinson says she is worried that the problem will worsen in the next school year due to an increase in the high school population and something "needs to be done about the issue now."

According to Spencer, he has not received a "complaint from a student or parent outside of this concern." Spencer goes on to counter that in order to deal with the additional students coming in next year, "we are looking into adding another lunch wave." In the meantime, it has been "recommended that students take their backpacks with them if there is a fire drill" during lunch.

Dr. Solek's report also states that "students may elect to sit in the cafeteria, in the adjacent hallway, with teachers in classrooms, or outside at tables located next to the cafeteria or just behind the main office." High school administrators report that there are always empty chairs in the cafeteria at each of the two lunch waves due to students electing to sit in the hallway with their peers. The administrators have "not received any complaints from students regarding the current cafeteria seating at the high school." 

According to a recent letter issued by Scott Brookes, East Haddam Fire Marshall, to Dr. Solek, "many students spend their lunch time in the hallways adjacent to the cafeteria eating and socializing and many are sitting on the floor along with their backpacks" and these "activities are contrary to the CT Fire Safety Code Section 14.4, Means of Egress Reliability."

The code basically states that "the corridors are designed to be a means of egress component and not occupiable space." Brookes' letter confirms that "when the students sit down to eat lunch in the corridors, they have in fact turned the corridors into an occupied space" and "it cannot be allowed to continue, as it is a violation of the CT State Fire Code."

As per the letter Fire Marshal, Brookes has requested a meeting "to discuss possible options to alleviate this problem" and states that with the continued "cooperation of Mr. Eric Spencer, Hale Ray Principal, and his staff," he is "confident we can arrive at a mutually agreeable solution to this problem."

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