Join the fight and sign the petition regarding our concerns about our Franklin Regional Middle School students, our children, whom are being stripped of their rights to move around the cafeteria at lunchtime freely & without unassigned seats and for their right to continue to be able to utilize their cell phones when decompressing during their lunchtime, as they have for the past several years.

Lunch time is the ONLY downtime and mental break that our students get outside of the classroom. Our students do not have the luxury of being afforded with recess or even outside seating to eat lunch and move around, which all sets the cycle for perpetuating endless hours sitting, which we already know leads to many medical issues and does not afford our children any physical means to de-stress. Many other schools have spaces for middle school students to move about and go outside. We do not.

Now the middle school has determined that it makes it "easier" to "locate a student faster" should they need to, with assigned seating. This takes away the last of the freedoms that middle school offers over elementary school and deletes their chance to keep up with friendships from important friends that they no longer see in the classroom because of the separation Franklin Regional middle school chooses to utilize a "house" system" that further perpetuates segmentation of our students. Lunchtime is their only chance for a mental break and to build onto their friendships, and the administration feels that being ORDERLY and ASSIGNING SEATS is more important than the mental state of our children attending school all day long.

FR middle school has also decided to take away the students rights to use their phones during the lunch break. Middle school students have been able to utilize their phones, whether to check in at home, for emergencies, or just to interact with their peers, laugh & have fun, for the past handful of years. This year the administration has decided - WITHOUT reaching out to parent and starting a discussion - to completely STOP our children from accessing or using their phone during this "downtime" the children have during lunch. This includes having their phone on their person during lunchtime for emergency purposes.

The removal of these KEY FREEDOMS that gave our students a little more freedom and responsibility in middle school, has already been made and is currently being enforced. Our children's FREEDOMS have been taken away, all without discussion, voting, or ANY CONCERN at all for the importance of social interaction with their peers and having downtime to relieve stress before resuming the rest of their school day.

It is unacceptable that they have made these policies and enforced them all without reaching out to the community on how this affects OUR CHILDREN. This petition is to decease these ridiculous policies of "locking down" our children all because it makes it "easier" to "find a kid." Allow our children to sit where they want to sit and with whom they want to sit with at lunch now and going forward! This petition is also implore FRMS administration to hold meeting for a discussion on these 2 policy changes with the parents and children of whom this policy change affects.