Last summer, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school system in the nation, continued its efforts to reform the menus of school cafeterias district-wide. However, today the district’s attempts do not seem to be greatly appreciated by the majority of the students throughout the Los Angeles schools. The truth is, much of what was tested ended up lost in translation as the food became produced, packaged, shipped off to schools, and then warmed up and tossed onto the students’ lunch trays. The new innovative menus that were judged by the teen food critics have been transformed back into the usual unappetizing state of former courses- and to the students’ eyes, these new menus look no different than previous ones. As a result, many students remain unsatisfied with the unappealing, bland food, and continue to throw away the majority of it, left uneaten on their trays. “Sometimes, I enter the cafeteria, and walk right back out empty-handed because there’s nothing to eat,” freshman Michelle Park from John Marshall High School commented. As 80% of the district’s 650,000 meals per day are served to students who qualify for the free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch tickets, a growing number of those students, who rely on their schools’ meals for their daily intake of nutrition, are in danger of obesity or related diseases. Although the district has seemingly done their share to prevent such hazards, much of the school food remains unchanged and inadequate for the health of students.
Some of the district’s students actually spoke up about this issue during a recent student meeting at North Hollywood High School led by the Student Government class, in which two representatives from each of the homerooms in the school gathered to represent the opinions and voices of their fellow classmates. One of the issues addressed was the cafeteria food, and the student representatives certainly had something to say regarding the problem. Ms. Jennifer Fowzer, the teacher in charge of the school’s Student Government and leadership class, explained to the students that despite the administrators’ and principals’ complaints toward the district regarding the menus, the district failed to respond to the requests to revise the menu yet again. She made a point that the students’ voices needed to be heard by the school board in order for the district to finally listen- which triggered a series of opinions from the students themselves.
“We need to make a petition and send it to the district board so that they realize how strongly we feel about this issue,” suggested Evan Hawke, an 11th grade student of North Hollywood High School. “We could send some pictures of the food or even samples of it to the school board along with the petition,” another student suggested. The students’ fervor increased as the meeting proceeded on, and some final conclusions were reached- those students who are interested would be given the chance to attend an LAUSD Board meeting on February 28th, 2011 to voice their opinions. Additionally, the students created a petition during the meeting, and the next morning an announcement through the school’s morning public announcement system was made that any students who are interested in collecting pictures of the food served at the school as well as gathering petitions from fellow classmates are strongly encouraged to do so.
Many students like those of North Hollywood High School shake their heads in disgust as they see the daily meals served inside the cafeterias. However the majority of them have no idea what they can do to fix this problem, other than complain about it amongst themselves. The worst part is that many students rely on these meals every day, and they end up starving because of the poor state of the food. Rather than supplying the students with the necessary nutrients and balanced diet they need each day, the schools are hindering their growth. Of course, the district surely is not starving the kids on purpose, nor trying to harm their healths; however, they are not doing much to better the situation either.
Many, including students, parents, and teachers, hope that the district will soon acquire a better reputation for its further attempts to improve the school food situation. Hopefully, the students will finally be able to look forward to lunch time and enjoy eating school lunches in the near future.
