Every day, students decide what they will eat at school. Some will leave the school for lunch, others will bring lunch from home, and many will buy lunch from the school cafeteria. In some instances, people might only have access to school lunch. Regardless of why or how often you purchase hot lunch at school- you may have a bone to pick with the school lunchroom.  

At lunch, Dakota offers a main meal, with one side and a small carton of juice or milk. Then, there are also a few options that are available daily. But unfortunately, despite the apparent variety in the options, there truly is not much at all. 

In the month of April, with a mix of Spring Break, PSAT, SAT, and ACT testing, the school lunchroom only had to provide lunch thirteen days. Out of these thirteen days, nine days’ lunches were chicken based. This means that 69% percent of the time we were able to eat lunch at school this month, the option was chicken. Following this trend in May, 63% of meals will be chicken based. 

There are many ways to incorporate other meats in lunches, including options where students can choose to add or subtract the meat from their meals. This would be a great idea for the school lunchroom to consider.  

An important thing to remember is that there ARE other options within the daily offerings in the lunchroom. These include the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Italian Sub Turkey, Bacon & Cheese Sub, Hummus Veggie Wrap, Pepperoni or Cheese Pizza, peanut butter and jelly Uncrustables, a Hamburger or Cheeseburger, Antipasto Salad, Chicken Caesar Salad, and Greek Salad.  

This seems like a lot of options, right? But- they are all in the form of sandwiches or salads (which students could likely bring from home for a cheaper price) that contain similar ingredients. With Dakota’s large population of students, a large variety of dietary restrictions come along with it, including allergies and certain diets (veganism, vegetarianism, etc.) some students might have. This month, only one main course offered in the lunchroom didn’t contain meat- Bosco Sticks (which is still not vegan friendly, making 0% of main courses offered this month vegan friendly), which will send people with dietary restrictions to the daily options. But then, the daily options are mostly items that contain meat and/or allergens- making the options very limited for many Dakota students.  

And so, we asked Dakota students, if you could, what would you change about the school lunchroom? 

“I wish the fruits and vegetables were fresher. They’re usually kind of soggy and bruised” -anonymous student, grade 11 

“The price of pizza- I don’t understand how we pay $4.50 for two slices here, when I could pay almost the same price for a whole pizza from the same place” -Zoe Wilson, grade 12 

“I wish there was more drink options- the juice portion is too small for me, but drinking milk with pizza is gross” -anonymous student, grade 10 

“The school lunch is like a roller coaster, the epic highs of chicken nugget Wednesdays and the devastating lows of walking taco Tuesdays” -Madison Singer, grade 12 

A great solution to this problem would be if the lunchroom looked to find more variety for the lunch of the day next year, and plan ahead to order food that is not just forms of chicken. Here are some suggestions of beloved lunches offered at our neighboring schools: 

“My school offers soup in a bread bowl as one of our special like, meals of the day. I KNOW it’s gonna be a good day when it’s bread bowl day. I love bread bowl day.” -Jadon Ebling, 11, Oxford High School 

“Our Enriched Rotini Pasta is pretty good; my friends like it a lot. I will say though, I do like to stick with the Bosco Sticks.” -Dale Brown, 11, Stoney Creek High School 

“My favorite lunchroom meals always come from the creation station. Usually, I like to make the Asian Bowl or Penne Alfredo Pasta. They also usually have some type of wrap or sandwich.” -Alexa Campbell, 10, Eisenhower High School 

It is time to look at adding more variety and options in the lunchroom. Whereas students appreciate the food provided for purchase at school, they have many suggestions and needs that should be heard, Lunch is a key aspect of the school day, vital to keeping kids energized and motivated. They look forward to taking a break, seeing friends, and eating a refreshing meal. A school with a successful lunchroom is a school with successful students!