Board Member Linda Cohen Experiences Lunch

School board member Linda Cohen visited Greenwood on January 2. It was a cold, windy day but she took the time to watch the full recess, and then met up with a 5th grader and her mother for lunch.

As the students entered the lunch room, none of the students were seen using the available hand sanitizer. 5th grade lunch begins at 1:05, and Linda and her lunchmates were at the last table to get in line at 1:10. At Greenwood, students leave their snowpants on and sit on their coats, hats, and mittens. Linda sat on her coat as well.

Linda and her lunchmates sat down to eat at 1:15. Lunch that day was chicken fingers, smiley fries, a whole grain dinner roll, and either apple slices or peas, which were cold and hard.

The students at the table talked about fruit and veggie requirements. They said they have to take either a fruit or a veggie, even if they don't want it or don't plan to eat it. If they don't eat it, they throw it away, but salvageable items can be donated: unopened milk, unopened applesauce containers, etc. Linda was very concerned about the food waste aspect.

At 1:20 the lights were turned off, giving the students a 5 minute warning. They could still talk, but the dimmed lights meant they needed to finish up. Teachers started arriving just before 1:25 and students were dismissed to compost and line up right at 1:25. The table Linda was at ended up with less than 10 minutes to eat. Lunch paras cleaned the tables. None of the students at the table had empty lunch trays, and Linda did not finish her meal either.

Linda shared with the attending parent that the experience was very informative and eye opening, and that the two issues that stood out to her most were the time to eat and the food waste. She said she would bring it up again at the next board meeting and would like to figure out how to add even 5 more minutes of lunch time into the schedule.