School Lunches a Recipe of Funding and Laws

School: a place to go and learn.   But what students may not think about are the less visible things that make up our school. Every morning, FASD has ladies come into our school and prepare food for each student who buys lunch, not to mention teachers as well.

Each day we have a choice of a sandwich, pizza, and whatever two meals the staff also decides to serve. We are offered fruit or vegetables as a side. Other sides include such ice cream, chips, cookies, etc. As for beverages, chocolate, strawberry, and regular milk is offered, as well as two different slushies, PowerAde, water, ice tea, etc.

School lunches are made mostly from premade or frozen foods. Lunch staff are constantly making food throughout the day for each lunch period. Over eighteen hundred lunches need to be made for the district every day. Food Services coordinator Jeff Woodall is responsible for deciding what lunches we get when.

“I have certain guidelines I need to follow, so it’s not like I can put anything on the menu. I have child nutrition laws that need to be followed, and every type of food we serve needs to meet them,” Woodall said.

Health inspectors come twice a year and inspect the kitchens.

While it would be possible for the district to make a deal with local fast food restaurants such as Fox’s, the maintainance of such a program would be too much of a hassle. The fast food staff would have to make all those pizzas in a short amount of time and make sure they arrived on time. Budget is an issue too.

“We charge about three dollars for a meal which is just enough. We obviously wouldn’t be able to have more expensive foods without having to raise the prices,” Woodall said.

Whether you enjoy the food or hate it, there’s nothing anyone can really do except pack his or her own lunch because of the laws, regulations, and financial guidelines FASD needs to follow.