As a senior who has gone through three years of consistent school lunch, I have never had D Lunch. I’ve had A, B, and C lunch and never once had I seen school lunch run out, or had any complaints. As a senior this year, it’s my first time having D lunch and I’ve already noticed limited options for lunch, with four days where I had to go hungry because of the little options available, and with a month of the school year completed, it seems to only be getting worse.
On March 14th 2023, Minnesota senate passed bill 38-26 to provide free lunch and breakfast to all students, including students at Roseville Area High School, which is effective throughout the 2023-2024 school year.
It’s no mistake that students here at RAHS would like to eat lunch more often if it was free. Over 68 percent of students surveyed at RAHS would eat school lunch more if it was free.
Is the new bill of free lunch causing food shortages at RAHS, or has it always been like this? Students who are D lunch, or the last lunch at RAHS, are starting to see less and less food available during the school year.
Junior Jada Vang confirms that this problem has been standing since before ‘free lunch for all’ started. She says, “I did have D lunch last year, I think I had it second trimester? Honestly, It was horrible for us kids who ate school lunch, because they didn’t even have enough food, so sometimes I would skip lunch because I didn’t want the food that was left.”
If the bill for free lunch being passed isn’t a confirmed issue, then what is it and what can we do about it?
The problem of lunch options running out has always been something not really talked about. As long as there is food available, should it really matter?
According to Reuters, Kids who missed lunch tended to be deficient in vitamins A, D, E, and K, along with several essential minerals and missed lunch doesn’t benefit anyone.
Many students express gratitude or appreciation about the benefits of free lunch. An anonymous Freshman expressed relief for free lunch and says, “Free lunch is a great way to feed many students who live in low income homes. My parent recently got laid off, so having free lunch is extremely useful and convenient.”
Junior Melia Conrath, although never gets school lunch, appreciates it for other students. She says, “I think it benefits students because they are able to eat lunch and snack before school if they have missed breakfast.”
Senior Sophia Seifert also talks about the importance of food security that free lunch secures. She says, “…free lunch is extremely beneficial to underserved communities as well as it can be a helpful tool to help students be more successful during the school day as they can focus more.”
Personally, I think the new noodle bar and the varying food options have branched out so much in recent years. The problem being when it comes to D lunch, why do we have to run out of these new options? Having the same chicken sandwich, which majority of the time is the only option available, everyday can cause boredom for students and cause many students at RAHS to skip lunch, which this year, I have seen happen with my own eyes.
Point being, most staff and students aren’t even aware of this issue happening and if they are aware, they don’t think of this as a problem, but it is. Whether it’s going to the administration, the district or even the state; regardless, something must be done because having only chicken sandwiches and few to go meals available is “very depressing”, as Senior Megan Weston says.
