Many Howard County students don?t like their school lunches.
“I?ve been hearing this since the beginning of the school year,” School Board Member Mary Kay Sigaty said. A food nutrition study of the system?s school lunches and a la carte items will include students? opinions, said Wossen Ayele, student member of the School Board.
“Students are generally dissatisfied with the lunches,” he said. “The pizza isn?t good.” Students are also not happy that the prices for school lunches increased at the high school level to $2.50 this year for a classic lunch, said Ayele, a student at Atholton High School, who brings his lunch to school.
The consultants should help students understand they are being given quality food that?s good for them, Ayele said.
Students would probably eat burgers and fries most of the time if given a choice, School Board Member Patricia Gordon said.
However, offering students a variety of healthy and tasteful choices may help, Ayele said.
The school system paid $13,000 for InTeam Associates, food nutrition consultants based in Aiken, S.C., to conduct the food study.
The consultants visited 12 schools in the system and are compiling data and will submit a report in the near future, food and nutrition services administrator Mary Klatko said. The study is being conducted as part of ongoing effort to provide more healthy alternatives to students as part of its new wellness policy.
