Students Walk Out to Protest Lunch Crunch : Schools: They say waiting in Buena Park High cafeteria line takes so long that they haven’t time enough left to eat.

About 100 students who say they wait up to 20 minutes in the cafeteria line--and have only a half-hour lunch break--walked off the Buena Park High School campus Thursday in protest.

Students said that since September, when the high school changed its policy and no longer allowed students to leave the campus for lunch, they have had to stand in line almost until the next bell rings.

“The cafeteria is so crowded all the time that a lot of people wait in line so long for food and they end up not having any time left to eat it,” said Jennifer Mills, 15, who didn’t participate in the walkout but sympathized.

Valerie Portillo, 17, who did join the noon protest, said: “We needed to let administrators know that we need more than just a couple minutes to eat, and the food here is too expensive. I wish they would let us go off campus at lunch to buy cheaper food outside.”

Assistant Principal Marv Abrams said students have been complaining about the food and the wait since the beginning of the school year. For instance, they demanded that the cafeteria offer healthier food such as salads, Abrams said, and the school complied.

In addition, after they complained about the wait, adjustments were made so that the time it takes to serve the 500 or so cafeteria customers has been reduced from 20 minutes to 15, he said.

The cafeteria is in a small building, where crowding and some waiting is inevitable, he said.

A flyer urging students to leave campus at lunchtime Thursday was found on the school grounds earlier this week, but it didn’t state reasons for the walkout, Abrams said.

“I don’t think there was any protest of the closed campus,” Abrams said. “A few kids saw an opportunity to leave for whatever reason. . . . The district has been very sensitive to concerns of the kids and, ultimately, what happened today is of no consequence.”

Several students agreed, lamenting that trying to get the lunch line to move faster is useless.

A student who identified himself only as Jason suggested that his classmates bring lunches from home.

“Just walking off campus is stupid,” the 18-year-old senior said. “It’s not going to change anything.”