Free Lunch at Dakota High School 

This is officially the first year at Dakota High School where you can get a lunch and breakfast completely for free! This exciting news spread instantly through the school, but what are the limitations of this policy? 

Well first off, it is one lunch per student. Past that and you will have to pay your own money for the food, lunch, or breakfast. You can also only get the main lunches for free which are foods like burgers, pizza, and Bosco sticks, and a fruit or vegetable with their meal for free. You can not however, get a snack like chips or something that did not come with the main meal that you chose that day.  

The free breakfasts and lunches are the result of a new bill that was signed by Governor Whitmer this year. It provided more budget to many schools in Michigan allowing them to feed their students free of charge. More than 1.4 million students are being fed by this new bill with the $160 million added to the state School Aid Budget. The budget also went to help students across the state with tutoring, before and after school programs, and literacy support to help every student succeed.  

Many are fans of the food here in Dakota, including sophomore Liza Mandwee who says,” My favorite part of the lunch here in Dakota are the stacks and Bosco sticks”. Dakota offers a variety of snacks and drinks that many students love to pair their lunch with. A few of these include chips, rice crispy treats, Pop Tarts, etc. Any of which can help satisfy a hungry student’s craving.  

But even with it being free people are still asking for more. Students like sophomore Ayden Padilla still think a lot of the food and snacks are,” too expensive” and the cost should be lowered. Many can relate to this issue with most meals being $3 and doubles being $1.50, it can really add up especially if you are getting lunch every day.

Add in a snack and drink and you might be spending upwards of $5 on your lunch every day. Also, other students are more worried about the quality or nutritional value in the lunch they eat daily. Every free meal at DHS has to follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition guidelines so the food it healthy but what about the quality? Food like cheeseburgers could be better, and the chicken patty not as dry to name a few. If some people were eating it every day, the food should be cheap, nutritious, and good quality.  

In conclusion, even though there is still more to improve with it, everyone here is happy with the free lunches at Dakota High School.