“It smells alright,” said Community High School senior Josh Fendrick as he surveyed the lunch choices on the first floor. The expanded food service menu has been met with apprehension at Community. After years of a non-traditional, open-campus style lunch program, packaged salad and milk cartons are a bit of a shock.

The food is provided by Chartwell’s food service, the company used across the district. They expanded their breakfast and lunch service at Community at the beginning of the year. Although the food service has provided food for students with free and reduced programs in the past, this year’s lunch and breakfast programs are open to all students.

Dean Jen Hein has been the mediator between Chartwell’s and Community High. Because Chartwell’s has a contract to serve food at every school in the district, it was the food service that approached Hein about implementing a more comprehensive system.

Hein met with the company several times to develop a menu plan that would work within Community’s guidlines. “It was important to me to have something that met the appetite of our kids,” she said.

Hein considered it her job to inform Chartwell’s of the “culture” of Community High. Because of the alternative nature of Community High, Chartwell’s designed a special menu.

“Everyday we get the same food because it is already pre-made sandwiches and salads. There is really nowhere for them to keep burgers and chicken patties so that is just the variety they have for Stone [High School] and Community [High School],” said food service worker Evette Mackel. Mackel serves lunch at Slauson Middle school and is one of several employees filling in at Community until someone is hired for the permanent position.

Even without typical hot items served at other schools there are a variety of lunch options to choose from. Students can select salads, sandwiches, fresh fruit, yogurt parfait, juice or milk. This menu is much more fresh than the stale bagels provided for students in previous years. Even students who typically buy their lunches from Kerrytown have chosen to eat a school-served meal.

A central goal of bringing this program to Community is to provide better options for students who qualify for free or reduced lunches from the district. Previously, these students would have to go to the main office to receive brown-bag lunches.

Katherine Hart, a junior in her second year at Community, has used the free lunch program for the past two years. “Before I went to the office and got this bag with a sandwich and veggies. It was kind of gross,” she said. For students like Hart, the newly re-designed lunch program provides tastier meals than those served in the past.

“[The food] is all right I guess,” she said. “It is kind of a trade-off because food from across the street tastes better but this is free and more convenient.”

Hart especially likes that having food available within the building makes it easy for her to get help from a teacher during lunch if she needs it.

Hein stresses the convenience of the new service as well, saying it is “great for teachers.”

While this new program is cheaper and more convenient in many ways than buying food from the community at large, it has its drawbacks. There is not as much selection as at other schools, and no hot items are served.

Hart hopes that this may be worked into the Community lunch program at some point. “Yeah, it kind of changes Community’s vibe but I hope there will be more hot options at some point. I don’t think they should bring them all at once though, it should be a gradual thing,” she said.

Hein believes that although a new lunch service means bringing more packaged food into the school creates the possibility for more trash, litter has not been a problem this year. “All the kids are being polite and cleaning up after themselves,” she said.

Another downside to school lunches is the fact that Community is only provided with a fixed amount of food per day. “Actually Friday was busier than we thought and I ran out within 15 minutes,” said Mackel.

If food runs out before all students who need free and reduced lunch can get to the first floor, the problem of leaving students without anything to eat remains. Mackel says that on busy days she gets 20 plus students who buy lunch and many of them do not qualify for aid from the district.

“I get sometimes more kids that pay than are free or reduced. I get regulars that just come and pay out of their account as well. And some kids don’t even know that they are free so I punch their number in and they’re like ‘Oh, wow!’ so that made it even sweeter today,” she said.

Hein has clearly made it a priority to work the expanded lunch service into the open-campus custom at Community High. “It is just a choice for kids to have… It is supposed to provide a little bit of convenience and nutrition,” she said. She made it clear that neither expanding the food service further, nor rethinking Community’s open-campus policy are currently on the table.

A lunch program provided by the district may seem like a more traditional school custom, but Community is certainly not going to change because of a few bagels and oranges.

The station for buying lunch, on the north side of the first floor, is unobtrusive for the most part. Even Mackel, on her fourth lunch shift at Community High, seems to fit right in. She drums on the upturned cartons she uses for a seat and jokes with students, calling them “sweetie” or “hun.”

“I love it. I love it. I love the kids, I love the school, I love the music, It’s me,” said Mackel.

Although there may be some kinks to work out, the new food program is fast becoming a regular part of everyday life at Community. The food service is able to fill a niche that does not interfere with the local businesses and open-campus, while providing lunch to students who might not have a healthy alternative.

“I never let a kid go without lunch whether they have money or not, so that is my motto,” Mackel said.