The Snack Controversy

Here at McCall, free lunches come with one simple rule: After your first meal, you pay for everything. On paper, it makes sense. You get what you need, and pay for extra. But questions have been arising around the regulation.

According to the lunch staff, one meal is equivalent to one plate of the daily lunch, or one salad.  A second meal means another salad or plate of food. (Luckily, there has been no drama around being allowed seconds, because nobody wants that much food.) A snack is any item that is not "large enough" to be a whole lunch. This counts as bags of chips, yogurt parfaits, fruit cups, and certain sugary treats. Snacks can be priced up to $3.00! That seems extreme to me. However, I was not sure if anything should be payed at all! Also, if you should be paying, how much is reasonable?

To get a wider student perspective, I interviewed one of our students on this topic. Sonia Rife is a 6th grader at McCall. She is on the Oracles team. Now, lets hear her perspective:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

First of all, what do you think about free lunches?

It’s really helpful for everyone. I just don’t get how people pay for the resources.

Ok, second of all, how does having to pay for extra food affect you?

Not me personally, but it’s a hassle to put money into my account. It is kinda expensive for the amount they give though. They shouldn’t make all the healthy food expensive, or else how can kids eat healthy? The fruit cups and yogurt are definitely not worth $3, at grocery stores you can get tons of fruit for $3.

Good point! Thirdly, do you agree that unhealthy foods should cost money?

Not necessarily, the food is mostly canned for frozen. I also think their drinks should be free. If kids forget their water bottles and didn’t put money in their accounts, it wouldn’t make sense to need to pay. Although I forget if the water is free or not. You need to pay for the seltzer.

That is so true! Okay, and last question, do you think kids should have to pay for snacks at all? Or should there even be restrictions?

No, the free foods are usually not healthy, and the snacks are. The healthier the students, the better they’ll learn!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That insightful interview definitely shines some light on the situation. Sonia made some good points. To finish this up, there are a couple more things that I think should be considered.

First of all, I think that there should be restrictions on what food kids should be allowed to eat. Letting kids get any snacks as long as they pay seems dangerous to me! I do think everything should be free, but I think that each student should only be permitted one meal and one snack. This way, the school can avoid an students consuming more than is healthy, and no one will be in discomfort. 

On a similar note, the yogurt parfaits should qualify as meals. Those things look delicious, but they also look larger than just snacks. Actually, the parfaits are bigger than most lunches! 

This was definitely a very interesting investigation. However, I am not sure I know what we can do about it! If we try, it will probably take a while to change things. We will continue thinking about this, though. If you find that you would like to add insight to the issue, you can always contact us. The newspaper's email is available on our Contact Us page, and towards the bottom of the home page. Overall, the McCall is still a great school, but I hope that we get this matter resolved soon.