Students say soaking up rays, rain at lunch is too much

By: SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer
Orange Glen High doesn't provide shade for students | Thursday, November 15, 2007 10:03 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Beating the heat and rain during lunch is a nearly impossible task, Orange Glen High School students and staff said Thursday, because there is not enough shade.

Orange Glen is the only comprehensive campus in the Escondido Union High School District that does not have an awning or covered area for students to eat their lunches outside. That means students and sometimes staff leave lunch wet most days either from sweat or rain, depending on the forecast, students said.

The district hopes to add some additional shading with a trellis that it plans to build along the side of the learning center that is due to be finished next fall. There are also discussions about building a more permanent 40-by-40-foot awning that covers the school's courtyard, Principal Diego Ochoa said. When the district or the school secures funding, he said, installing an awning is one of the its top priorities.

But students, parents and some staff say the protection from the weather can't come soon enough.

"I'm pretty sure I've gotten a sunburn over the last day or two," said 16-year-old Brittany Whetsel, a junior. "We sit in the sun all the time."

Brittany, who gathered with a group of about six friends at one of the school's lunch tables Thursday, said that they have given up on trying to snatch a spot in the shade or with shelter. There are too many students at the nearly 2,400-student school clamoring for seats alongside one of the buildings and under the trees, she said.

On Thursday, when temperatures reached the high-80s midday, students collected on patches of grass, where a tree's branches and scattered leaves cast stray shadows. Others camped out beside vending machines and parked against the wall to have a couple minutes reprieve from the rays.

"I would love the idea (of having an awning) because it's so hot," said 17-year-old Josh Real. "You are either sweating a lot and getting a tan, or relaxing in the cool.

"I want to relax," he said.

For the first three months of school and in years past, Ochoa said that the school was able to offer students a slight break by renting a series of pop-up tents to cover the lunch lines. As the weather became more temperate, he said, they were returned and now students are left to sweat it out while eating lunch on particularly warm days and asked to share space under the eaves or in open classrooms when it's raining.

"It's a problem," 16-year-old Austin Arnez said. "When I come home wet, my mom asks, 'Why are you soaking wet?' And I say, 'Cause there is nowhere to go.' "

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.