Wellness teacher Lisa Petrizzi believes that preconceived negative opinions of school food may be preventing many students from giving the cafeteria a chance, and recognizing some of the healthier options. But she also considers it the wrong message to offer items like salads and wraps alongside French fries and hamburgers.
“I think it’s great that they have a salad bar, [but] the other options I would question in terms of quality,” she said. “I don’t know where they get the food or how they prepare it.”
Petrizzi teaches nutrition courses that aim to enable students to better judge the nutritional merits and risks of certain food items.
“[Students] could make healthy choices,” she said, “but instead they choose french fries. If [a student] has an unhealthy option once in a while it’s okay, but if they’re eating french fries and burgers every day that can have an overall [health] impact.”
Students such as junior George Kurosawa have more control over what they consume.
“Normally I bring my food from home,” Kurosawa said. He said that he doesn’t necessarily view school lunch as bad, but has just grown used to food from home, and hasn’t seen the need to make any sort of transition.
One of the benefits Kurosawa gains from bringing a home lunch is the money he saves. While he doesn’t view $3.50 as an enormous amount, he still believes that the price does not accurately reflect the quality of the food.
Senior Anusha Mookherjee agreed.
“I don’t like that quality of the food,” she said. “It’s a little it too greasy and unhealthy for me. Even at the salad bar the lettuce doesn’t look fresh, so I’ve never been inclined to get my food from there.”
Instead she opts to eat out, which
Mookherjee said that she thinks the price for school lunch is fair, and that having to purchase lunch outside of school can occasionally have its drawbacks.
“$3.50 for us is not bad for lunch. Usually if I go out to Panera with my friends we’ll end up [spending] eight dollars, but then I don’t feel bad because we’re getting quality food,” Mookherjee said.
Financial options are available for students who meet program requirements. These options include free and reduced payment plans which can ease financial burden for students who may otherwise not be able to easily pay for lunch.
The reduced price for lunch is 40 cents and the price for reduced breakfast is 30 cents.
Food prices have remained constant, although economic conditions have led to the increase in the district's cost to purchase food.
Regarding the actual food served in the cafeteria, Principal Joel Stembridge shares Petrizzi’s view that offering a variety of options to students is good as long as students are capable of making good choices.
“We have the whole wellness program … we try to focus in educting and informing [students],” Stembridge said. “I think one of the things we value here are choice and options, so I certainly think that students here either have the ability to create something that’s extremely healthy or something that maybe they think tastes better.”
Stembridge said he is unlikely to directly intervene in the food program.
“I know, just from the pushback I’ve gotten just from asking students not to eat in a particular place, that people don’t like to be told what they can’t do.”
Petrizzi says that oftentimes budgetary concerns can displace the more immediate consequences of making changes to students’ eating habits.
She said she believes that the current cost structure works, as long as students’ dietary needs are consistently met.
“I think it’s a fair price,” Petrizzi said. “Food is expensive though, so it could get pricey.”
She said that there are plenty of ways for the school to improve the quality of foods offered. In addition to adding new, more nutritious items, she believes that limiting the unhealthy items on the menu may be a more realistic first step.
“I definitely feel that [the school] could do better. There are healthier options. [Those options] are more expensive and that’s where the problem is,” Petrizzi said. “If we offered healthy, [kids] would have to eat healthy.”
“I’ve read a few articles where students have gone all-natural, all-organic, and they claim that [their budgets] are balancing out,” Petrizzi said.
Stembridge said that until actual changes are made to the menu, students will need to maintain good eating habits that he believes the school promotes.
“There’s a wide range of options. When I go in there I tend to try to buy a salad or I’ll get a wrap,” Stembridge said. “I also don’t see an overwhelming number of students going for the French fries; I see lots of students getting salads.”
Stembridge said that the ultimate goal for the school is to both offer healthy choices for students, and to guide students towards making those same healthy choices as well.
“I would think that students are able to self-regulate, that they are able to make decisions for themselves,” Stembridge said. “When I look at the options that students have I see lots of healthy choices, and plenty of opportunities for students to make those healthy choices.”
