School Lunch: Let’s talk about it.

Since covid-19 there’s been a major change in school lunches, and students aren’t happy about it. Many students rely on school lunches for their meals and when all that’s offered is a bagel, it’s a problem. Allergies and dietary restrictions sometimes prohibit students from eating the main course, so they opt to get one of the other options. The substitutions available are a bagel, salad, or nachos; but that’s all you get. No sides. When students order the main course they typically receive 2-3 sides, but these are not offered to those who choose to get the substitutions. A bagel, salad, or nachos is not enough of a meal for a high school student: or any person for that matter.

Before covid-19 hit, the high school had offered a salad bar to the students. Whether you got the main meal or any of the substitutions, you were able to get anything from the salad bar with it. In the salad bar there was a variety of different sides available to get alongside their meal. After students returned back to school, the salad bar was removed for health and safety reasons. At this point, masks are no longer mandatory, so why should we not be able to have a salad bar?

The lack of sides isn’t the only issue with school lunches, but also the main courses. Some days, the main course is so unappetizing that around 75% of students choose to get the substitutions instead; that says enough. We interviewed students asking what their favorite lunches were and what lunches they’d like to see; re-opening the salad bar was also popularly demanded. Top favorite main courses include: pizza, french toast, pasta, shepherds pie, chicken nuggets and fajitas. Favorite slides include: garlic noodles, rice, mash potatoes, tater tots, fries, and pasta salad. Some courses that we’d like to see are stuffed crust pizza, chicken wings, mac and cheese, baked potatoes, and cheese quesadillas. Sides that we would like to see (preferably in the salad bar) include: pickles, fresh fruit, chickpeas, fresh vegetables, bread rolls, and smiley french fries. We hope that the school will take our requests into consideration.