Despite efforts to educate students in Westby Middle School about how the National School Lunch program works, what the implications are if the boycott continues and working with the food service staff to correct some of the concerns voiced during a special meeting with parents and students last week, the vast majority of middle school students are continuing to boycott the program.

By the end of last week the boycott had spread to the 5th-and 6th-grade level with only 45 middle school students participating in the hot lunch program on Monday, April 7. The middle school houses 320 students, with 75 percent normally utilizing the school’s hot lunch program. The overall effect of the boycott was also beginning to trickle down to the high school level, with fewer students eating at noon.

Over 100 students, parents and staff members attended an invitation-only meeting, called by Westby School District Administration on April 7, to voice their concerns regarding the district lunch program. With the general consensus by administration and attendees being that the meeting was productive, and produced a number of potential areas of improvement by both students and employees, students still opted to continue the boycott.

Two weeks into the student-initiated boycott, administration and school board members were all in agreement that a gradual communication breakdown led to the students' actions, and that the key to stopping the boycott lies in reopening the lines of communication between students, administration, staff and employees in the district.

“We normally have 245-260 students eating at noon, now we’re in the 40s. This is a major issue,” Westby Middle School Principal Clarice Nestingen told school board members during the monthly meeting on Monday, April 14.

According to Nestingen she received three letters from students in 7th and 8th grade indicating a few student concerns regarding the lunch program, but that the letters were not presented to her until the day after the boycott was already in full force.

Concerns voiced to the newspaper regarding food service issues consisted of running out of food, undercooked and overcooked food, quality of food issues, soft or bruised fruit, portion sizes, overcharging of food items, foreign items found in the food, general appearance of some foods and the temperature at which food is served. Students also registered complaints about the use of plastic silverware.

District food service Director Marilyn Volden responded to various allegations last week stating that USDA Commodities make up approximately 15-20% of the food served in the Westby Area School District and that the school district currently has a prime vendor agreement in place with Reinhart Food Service in La Crosse, Marigold Foods, which provides Kemps milk and Sara Lee Bakery for the production of bread, rolls and buns.

According to Volden many of the products served are the same products available for purchase through your local grocery store and that all food considered for use is evaluated for nutritional quality as well as price.

Volden also clarified that food service employees are required to wear hair restraints (hair nets), wear minimal jewelry and clean clothing. They must have trimmed fingernails and no artificial nails are allowed while on duty in the food service department.

According to Volden these requirements pertain to the food service department employees at all branches in the district, but they do not apply to students and staff who have access to food during meal times making it possible for objects such as hair, broken fingernails, jewelry, and other items to fall into the food from students and non-food service staff during the self-serve process.

Fielding the question regarding the use of plastic silverware the district converted to using plastic years earlier as a money-saving venture after the school-owned metal flatware was being discarded in the trash with uneaten food by students when they turned in their food trays to the dishwasher.

Since the boycott began Nestingen has been meeting with all homeroom classes in the middle school to explain the financial impact of continuing the boycott. She is also discussing key questions surrounding the food service program. Nestingen is documenting major concerns about the program, discussing present food options and availability, educating students on what a “full meal” consists of according to the pricing program charge of $2 at the middle school level, plus what items are billed out to student accounts as additional al-a-carte charges. Parents of students may also obtain a copy of their student’s food service account charges upon request.

District Administrator Michael Murphy informed the board that he conducted a survey during the April 7 meeting regarding attendees' concerns and recommendation regarding the food service program. He also surveyed what parents would be willing to pay to improve the program.

The complete results of the survey were still being processed and were not available at the meeting, but Murphy relayed concerns and issues voiced at the meeting including a general agreement that nutritious meals are critical to student development; the consensus that tasty meals provide enjoyment, an agreement that consideration of the environment must be done frequently, and that offering fewer choices could be an option. Parents also voiced their belief that administration should listen and respond to student voiced concerns.

Murphy made it clear to attendees that the district food service program is safe and re-enforced the fact that the food service staff and participants must show respect to each other. He also noted that any future complaints regarding the food service program will be documented and investigated to avert a similar situation in the future.

He previously stated that although he believes the boycott showed student initiative, that the students failed to follow the proper procedure prior to their actions, making it impossible for administration or the food service staff to counteract and correct the problem before it developed to its present magnitude.

“The commodities issue is huge. We’re locked into a contract. The funds needed to pay for those products have to come from somewhere in order to balance the budget. This affects the entire district,” Murphy said.

A committee of parents and students is being formed to focus on making improvements in the Food Service Program. Murphy invited parents of all levels of district students to participate on the committee along with a couple of board of education members.

According to Murphy, food service supervisor Volden has currently been meeting with student representatives at the high school level to address concerns and open up dialogue regarding her program. School board student representative, Jesse Brault, is also compiling information at the high school level which administration hopes will provide some insight into unspoken concerns regarding the food service program and assist them in their attempts to put an end to the boycott, which continues to cause a financial strain on the district, and an emotional strain on everyone involved.