The 2025-26 school year starts with Fresno Christian introducing changes for the high school student body. Administration and staff enforce the no-phones-in-class policy and add the detail that students cannot have any device out during lunch. Food deliveries are no longer allowed on campus, but LunchLink now provides hot lunch options. The school can no longer use portables, which means some classes are moving to building five and building six.
The new no phones during class and lunch policy helps encourage students to interact more and get to know their classmates.
This year, FC partnered with LunchLink to give students hot lunches. LunchLink collaborates with catering companies and local restaurants to provide lunch for many schools in town. LunchLink offers Red Robin on Mondays, Jack’s Urban Eats on Tuesdays, Mountain Mike’s Pizza on Wednesdays and Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches on Thursdays. The prices reach anywhere from $5-17 dollars for entrees, one to two dollars for sides, three dollars for drinks and two to five dollars for desserts (not everyone has desserts and sides).
Amy Deffenbacher, FC middle and high school principal, aims to keep the FC campus safe and reduce the number of strangers on the premises during lunch. She found an alternative option through LunchLink.
“As food deliveries increased, concern over the number of strangers on campus also increased,” Deffenbacher said. “Many delivery drivers would get lost and enter the wrong buildings or wander around campus unnecessarily. To increase the security of our campus, which is technically a ‘closed campus,’ eliminating deliveries was necessary.”
For students with math, English or any Bible class, there is a shift in location. Math class moved to building six as the portables have been deemed unsafe for this school year.
Kristina Breshears teaches math 1, advanced math and consumer math. She has been teaching at FC since 2015. Breshears loves the move to building 6 and her new classroom.
“Everything has a place,” Breshears said. “The storage space allows me to organize my supplies a little nicer. Sometimes we have problems that are so long they take up more than one board,”
Math 2 and 3 teacher Angie Counts also loves her new classroom. Counts feels a lot more connected to other teachers and students. Counts found out about her class shift a short time before school started. She recalls with gratitude the teamwork displayed in helping her move. Her husband, daughter and movers helped transport, set up and decorate her classroom.
“I was on an Alaskan cruise where I didn’t get much internet when the email came through that I needed to move my classroom,” Counts said. “It was really overwhelming. My stuff was everywhere, but they moved my projector and put up new white boards. They were so helpful and determined to make it nice for us.”
English 10 and 12, Christian Living and Old Testament classes moved to building five over the summer.
The empty classes in building five made it easy to move teachers and class supplies. Since math classes moved to building 6, that building is now full and no longer offers space for other classrooms. The teachers and classes were evaluated to see what classes could be moved and not disrupt the classes too much.
Brian Butler teaches English 12 and Christian Living 1. The move surprised Butler because he got the news only two weeks before school started but he liked that the classroom set up looked very similar to his last classroom, so it didn’t take that much time to figure everything out.
“Sharing a wall can get a little noisy and can be a challenge sometimes,” Butler said. “Then being away from the high school building and being out of the loop of what’s going on, sometimes it feels a little isolated.”
Butler enjoys having another high school teacher, Diego Alas, in building five to talk to and get advice from. English 10 teacher Alas started teaching Old Testament this year.
“I think ever since [Butler and I] both moved here, we’ve interacted a lot more and I would say we’ve gotten a lot closer since we’re the only high school teachers up here,” Alas said. “We actually have the same schedule so it seems like we’re both a team working together to get through the day.”
You can find classes taught by Butler and Alas in building five on the second floor. Breshears and Counts’ classes are in building six on the first floor. FC serves LunchLink Monday through Thursday, and FC serves pizza on Friday.
For more from The Feather Online visit Anticipated phone policy surprises student body or Eagles take the field backed by family, faith and football.
