Last school year, COVID-19 led the Taher staff to change the way they serve school lunch. This year, some of the changes are here to stay.

For 25 years, BSM has partnered with Taher food services to serve lunches to students, faculty and staff. Everyday there is a different chef-made meal in one line and various other options in the other such as chicken bites, fries, and prepackaged salads. “The chef-made meals are fun because they change every day so you can get something different instead of just the things they have every day,” sophomore Julia Evans said.

Before COVID-19, students grabbed a red lunch tray and carried it as they bought their lunch. Chef-made meals were served on ceramic plates, and metal silverware was used for all meals. After finishing lunch, students would stack trays and plates and place silverware in the side of a cart. Then the discarded plates would be sent back to the kitchen to be washed. But now the kitchen is a little too small to accommodate all the silverware, plates, and trays. “We have totally outgrown this kitchen… we have one little dishwasher and there is no real way with the amount of kids and dishes that we could accommodate this anymore until it is updated,” BSM’s cafeteria manager Lynn Lynch said.

In the 2021 school year, the school changed its lunch system to make things more sanitary. Chef-made meals are now put in cardboard containers and plastic silverware is used. Some students love the new containers since BSM students are now allowed to eat lunch outside. “It is very easy to just grab my lunch and then throw it away outside when I’m done,” Evans said.

Students can now carry their meal from the cafeteria to outside without it spilling it off the tray. But some feel the red tray and plate was easier to transport their meal from the line to the place they are eating lunch that day, especially if they have other grab-and-go things such as cookies, chips, or a drink. “I like the old method better because I can just carry one thing instead of lots of little things,” sophomore Lauren Hillins said.

Originally, the lunch system was set to return to normal for this school year. But, at the last minute, the administration decided that the pandemic lunch measures would be safer. “Dr. Ehrmantraut had a meeting with me and we were all set on plates, trays, and regular tables, but two days before it all switched up on us,” Lynch said.

The lunchroom also lost the vending machines in order to make more room for socially distant tables. Because the students need access to food after school, Taher is now open until 3 on Monday through Thursday. They used to be only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “We keep everything like fruit, sandwiches, and chips so students can get more than just a candy bar from the spirit shop after school,” Lynch said.

BSM has repealed other pandemic safety measures, such as masks, but has kept the school lunch changes. In the future, some hope they can transition back to silverware and real plates. “I personally prefer to eat off a real plate when eating meals,” Lynch said.