Selling any kind of food or drink that needs refrigeration is against the rules at The Columbus School. Two weeks ago, a student who was selling McDonald’s burgers was busted during David Gold’s lunch duty.

It was effortless to notice that oodles of students were consuming burgers during window and class; it was undeniable that someone was distributing the fast food commodity at school.

“It was obvious that somebody was selling McDonald’s cheeseburgers on campus for a few days, it didn’t just happen that day,” David Gold, 11th-grade English teacher, said.

After some days with a significant increment of people eating burgers, an investigation was launched to discover who was profiting off these snacks. After all, it was not that easy to find out who it was, friends would not implicate their friend. Not only this, but when the teacher asked the student to go and buy a burger he gave the money to one kid and receive the burger from another one, which made it really confusing.

“I asked a student who I saw eating a cheeseburger where he got the cheeseburger, and, of course, they didn’t want to tell me because they didn’t want to snitch out their friend,” Gold said.

All teenagers undoubtedly want money, and selling is an easy way to get it. Many don’t care if they are breaking the school’s selling policy to get it; nevertheless, they have to hear the administration’s motive behind why the regulation was established. And fortunately after listening to the administration they are more conscious of why it’s not secure to sell these types of things.

“[The directives] told me I couldn’t sell burgers or sodas (because I also used to sell sodas in the past) and told me I couldn’t keep selling because of some safety measure,” Felipe Jaramillo, 9th-grade student, said.

The fact that no major punishment was issued against the young entrepreneur allowed him to perceive the logic of why his sales are unapproved and prevented a greater conflict. Furthermore, it also helped the administration avoid some problems, meaning meetings, with his parents.

“They had meat and cheese, so they could spread a virus around school if they weren’t refrigerated properly,” Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo complied with the administration’s orders and withdrew his business. Now the students at TCS won’t be able to enjoy some McDonald’s cheeseburgers, but will be safe from any possible, preventable sickness caused by their lack of refrigeration.

“I can’t ignore the fact that if somebody is breaking the rules, like any other rule, it’s part of my job as a teacher to intervene and do something about that,” Gold said.