By: Elizabeth Chen; Staff Writer
After months of providing free breakfast and lunch Mills administration has decided to start charging students for their meals. The free breakfast and lunches were originally made so that low-income families that were affected by Covid were able to give their children meals, but since Covid cases have died down, Mills administration has decided to slowly raise the costs of lunches. The lunches will still be low cost and reduced meals will still be available for low-income families but they will no longer be available to the whole student body.
Many students are angered at this new declaration, one student stating “I’m going to miss the free brunch and lunches.”. Some students wanted to take action and a petition has started to keep the free meals. The petition calls for administrators to keep the free brunch and lunches. “The students are performing better because of these free meals. They are no longer hungry which gives them more focus during class,” one teacher states. “People don’t work well on empty stomachs. Making students pay for meals would make them less likely to eat at school because they didn’t bring any,” another concerned teacher said. Student’s grades have been improving overall since the school started providing free brunch and lunch as well, the highest Mills has seen in the last couple decades. This may be because students no longer have to worry about paying for their meals and can instead devote their focus to their studies. Without the stress of having to wake up early and put in the work of making breakfast and lunch, the free meals mean more than just free food, it creates a butterfly effect of positive change in students health and wellbeing. More sleep and less stress leads to a successful and encouraging school environment.
Teachers have also threatened to go on strike because of this new policy, the staff refusing to back down, willing to go through with this strike if the new policies continue. “We care about our students. Getting rid of free lunches will make students less likely to eat meals at school and we can’t let that happen,” one teacher states. “Students should have the choice to get food and by adding a price back onto it you take the choice away from some students.” A concerned and disappointed teacher says. Not everyone has a chance to get a meal without any stress, and talking that away only serves to further add to the strain of good grades and staying healthy. When the news of the removal of free lunches reached the parents, many threatened to pull their students out of school unless they kept the free lunches. They felt that because of the free lunches, they no longer had the pressure of figuring out what to pack their children for lunch the next day. By removing the option, parents who could not afford having their child buy school lunches now have to struggle and find a way to feed their child.
Many predict that the lunch lines will get shorter because of the price increase. “I think more people will start bringing food from home instead of buying the ones on here.” a student says. Schools are not known for their great food and because the food is no longer free some students feel that it would be better to just bring food from home. The food from home would be less costly and could be simple things like the previous night’s leftovers.
The call for a price increase on breakfast and brunch has upset both staff and students. The administration has already approved this price increase but with the pushback from many families and staff, that might just change.
