“It's literally a curse.” The School Lunch Program and the District’s response

MCHS students waiting in the lunch line ( The Puma Prensa / Chase Soylu Chee )

By Chase Soylu Chee, News Editor & Video Editor, and Aiden Damasco, Staff Writer

What used to be a quick stop for food has turned into a daily test of resilience. The Maria Carrillo High School lunch program now leaves students waiting in long lines for food that, to some, runs out too quickly.

MCHS’s lunch line has always been long, and many believe its length constitutes a failure to provide everyone with equal access to food. With each passing year, supervision of the line increases, and with that, techniques to be first in line have only become more controversial. Ultimately, some leave the lunch line with no food.

Students have not always been granted the privileges of free food. In previous generations, lunch and snacks were provided exclusively by families until 1946, when President Harry Truman addressed the issue. Truman created the National School Lunch Act of 1946: a law that created the National School Lunch Program and provided free school lunches to low-income and underprivileged families. In the Santa Rosa City Schools District, due to these policies everyone can get two free meals throughout the day which is break and lunch for us. 

At the start of the school year, however, returning students have noticed a substantial decrease in the quality and consistency of the food. The change in the bread of sandwiches, smaller portions in bowls, and the common absence of drinks during break and lunch. 

MCHS mathematics teacher Margaret BradyLong has long felt the effects of a lack of food at the school. During her time teaching at Carrillo, BradyLong has observed “kids want to leave class early just so they get into line for food.” 

BradyLong’s concern about the food on campus extends to the performance of her students, stating that some kids “aren’t able to learn because they're worried about their poor stomachs.”

However, MCHS Principal Amy Wiese has noticed a positive uptick in the food distribution over her time at Carrillo. “It’s definitely better than it has been in the past,” Wiese recalled. From her observations, “years ago, [Carrillo] ran out of food a lot faster,” and, compared to previous years, Wiese is now certain that “[Carrillo has] enough.”

Despite their contrasting beliefs, both Wiese and BradyLong think that the efficiency of the school lunch line can still be improved upon. Wiese believes “it would be ideal if [Carrillo] had double [the room],” but she laments on the fact that “there’s no physical space in the building to do that.” 

BradyLong believes that if more people campaign for changes, they will be made. She remembers how the lunch line used to have a different physical design, but they have made improvements in the last few years. BradyLong recalls, “[The lunch] line [wasn’t] long enough," so “[administration] put in barriers to make the line long enough.” 

Edward Burke, the Director of Child Nutrition Services for Santa Rosa City Schools, has heard their concerns and assures the District is taking the necessary steps to make school lunches equitable and delicious for everyone.

While there are noticeable changes at MCHS, Montgomery and Santa Rosa High School have had major changes to their food program too. To Burke, “Montgomery [High School]… was built with a certain amount of space for the kitchen. [The District is] mindful of what capacity [they are] putting in, so that [they] can get more meals that are higher quality and better product, but at the same footprint because space is going to be a consideration as well.”

When it comes to the frequent menu changes students see on campus, updates come around monthly. Each review depends on factors such as popularity, availability, and feedback. “[The district has] a supervisor who's in charge of secondary menus, and so he…will give us feedback about what Maria Carrillo’s looking for,” said Burke. 

After surveying the students and hearing from site staff and faculty, Burke and his colleagues conclude that if “the consensus is [that] this is not the product people want, [they will] take it out.” 

Following Burke’s statement, out of all the students interviewed, all of them unanimously stated that they have not received a survey or feedback from the site council or the faculty on campus regarding the food or lunch program at school.

Furthermore, Burke stated that both Montgomery and Santa Rosa High Schools have taken extraordinary steps to provide food for both middle schoolers and high schoolers on the integrated campuses.

Looking forward, there are many solutions and changes Burke is considering and working towards to make our nutrition program better. One massive shift Burke is trying to make is the move towards scratch cooking. “We get local control. We can spend Santa Rosa dollars in Santa Rosa…so we can work with local farmers,” said Burke, detailing the benefits of this plan.

Making this shift can help the local economy and farming scene, but will also move schools away from processed products and industries that are outside of the state. 

“[Food] has to have certain nutrition requirements; there’s a company that makes them, there’s really, functionally, one distributor. It’s not a great situation, but then with scratch cooking, we can make our own pizzas, we can make our own stuff,” said Burke. 

Another common issue on campus is the fruit waste. Per USDA requirement, students must take at least one fruit or a vegetable, and nutritional services are looking for ways to get students to eat more fruits. Fortunately, nutritional services allow a nonprofit, Sonoma Food Runners, to pick up leftovers and distribute food to people in need. 

Junior Jack Curtis, when asked about how he would change the lunch program, stated “[he] would get rid of forcing [students] to take apples or a fruit, because… [the school is] wasting money, and if you look at the garbage can that’s right next to the [cafeteria], it’s literally full of apples and pears.” 

Burke is also considering adding compost bins to campus, but is currently hashing out ways to make them effective on campus and to address the many scenarios that might arise. “If someone took a couple bites out of an apple, there is an avenue for that. If they didn’t take the apples, there’s [an] avenue for that,” explained Burke. 

To Senior Jonathan Jones, the lunch line is not working well at MCHS. “Most of the time, it’s not worth the wait because people would just be cutting in front of you. By the time you get [inside], all the good food is gone, and if you cut yourself, you get caught. It’s literally a curse.”

In response to the cafeteria's design and layout, Burke is stumped by the situation at hand. “The constraints of space and the constraints of design are a challenge, because if hypothetically, it takes longer to serve those meals, I’m now taking away time away from students that could be doing something else,” said Burke.

Looking ahead, as the district moves forward, time will tell how our food program will progress. Optimistically, the drive to improve and elevate our food program is consistently underway to not only make our food more nutritious but also make getting lunch more efficient and faster. 

“For us, this is not a business,” exclaimed Burke, “This is not just a job. This is a mission, and we have an obligation to feed kids.”