Story originally printed in the Westby Times or online at www.westbytimes.com
Published - Friday, April 04, 2008
Westby Middle School students boycott food service program
In an effort to take a stance on what some students believe to be a substandard food offering in the Westby Area School District students in Westby Middle School began boycotting the noon lunch program earlier this week.
Students in 7th and 8th grade organized the boycott which had a heavy following. Students began bringing sack lunches to school versus eating the in-house hot school lunch program. The boycotting left the food service department with large quantities of prepared food which had to be disposed of. It also created a hardship for food service employees and the department’s budget.
As the boycott progressed the trickledown effect of the action was evident when only one 7th-and 8th-grade student and 35 students in 5th and 6th grade ate school lunch on Friday, April 3. The middle school houses 220 students and an average of 163 normally eat the in-house lunch.
Westby Middle School Principal Clarice Nestingen said that Friday was a shortened day for classes due to the end of the third quarter and not a good day to judge numbers, since many students bypass lunch on early dismissal days and eat lunch at home. On Friday, Nestingen conducted a lunch count in the morning to prevent the over-preparation of food at noon.
School administration has been working to offset the negative impact of the boycott and working internally to find a solution to the problem, which would satisfy student body concerns and fall within the criteria of the food service program regulations.
Students currently are charged $2 per lunch, providing they follow the designated outline of food selections required to qualify a meal purchase as a complete meal. If students simply purchase items al-a-carte and do not follow the complete meal guidelines the cost per meal increases.
According to District Administrator Michael Murphy, the students, staff, parents and public need an overall education on just how the food service program operates and the stringent rules and regulations the program must adhere to under government guidelines. This is especially in a school district like Westby, which relies heavily on government subsidies.
In an effort to educate anyone interested in learning more about the food service program, and to address questions and concerns of students and parents, the administration has scheduled a special meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 7 in the Westby Middle School cafeteria. For more information contact Administrator Murphy at 608-634-0101 or Principal Nestingen at 608-634-0200.
The Westby Times will provide a more in-depth story on this issue in the April 10th issue of the newspaper.
All stories copyright 2006 Westby Times and other attributed sources.