School Lunches: Are you getting what you pay for?

School+Lunches%3A+Are+you+getting+what+you+pay+for%3F

Adam Positano, Contributing Writer

 

BURLINGTON — It’s third lunch at the Lewis Mills cafeteria and Dom Rosato is reluctantly buying the main lunch. As the lunch lady scoops pasta onto his styrofoam tray he stands there with disbelief in his eyes, astonished that he’s going to pay $2.75 for this “meal”.

With the second semester approaching there are once again growing frustrations by students at Lewis Mills over school lunches. Every year the frustrations grow bigger and bigger as more and more kids are forced to get two lunches and pay over five dollars a day for lunch because one lunch just isn’t enough.

“Oh yeah, especially now during basketball season one lunch just doesn’t cut it. I think many athletes would agree that they need more to fuel them for a rigorous practice,” explained Anthony Licata, a senior basketball player for the spartans. Licata is like many frustrated students at Mills who believe they are not getting their money’s worth in the lunchroom.

“Yes the prices in the cafeteria have gone up and they may be going up again.” Said Maggie Dreher the nutrition supervisor at LSM. Mrs. Dreher also explained that there are many reasons why the prices are on the rise, one of the main ones being that food costs in general nationally, have gone up. In addition, there are federal regulations that the cafeteria must follow like one that limits the amount of sodium they can have in lunches, which has forced them to buy Boar’s Head meats which are much more expensive. Dreher also explained that the cafeteria at mills is self sufficient and gets no help from the school budget so the each year the cafeteria has to make enough money to cover not only food costs but equipment costs and employee salaries as well.

“We also have to stay within a strict calorie range so that is why portions are sometimes not as big as some students may like. However, many students complain they aren’t getting enough to eat but they don’t even eat the whole meal and they often throw away the vegetables and fruits that come with the lunch.” Said Dreher when asked about concerns over portion sizes.

The frustrations continue to grow at mills for the student body but unfortunately it looks like the cafeteria staff isn’t to blame and there’s not much they can do to address student concerns. So it looks like Dom Rosato and all the other disappointed school lunch customers are going to have to continue to pay $2.75 or even more every day for a government regulated lunch.