MILWAUKEE — For a year, high school students across Milwaukee have been advocating for better meals at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).
On Thursday, students took that fight to MPS’ school board meeting as the board voted on a resolution to implement a “School Lunch Justice Task Force.”
That task force is aimed at allowing students a seat at the table when it comes to decisions and implementation of changes for school meals.
Eliza Palacios is a junior at Alexander Hamilton High school and a part of Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), a student-led organization at the forefront of the fight for better school meals.
“I have a lot of friends that don't have a lot of food at home, and they depend on the school lunches,” shared Palacios. “And sometimes they won't even eat the school lunches, so they'll just go home hungry.”
YES sent out surveys to students asking what improvements can be made in their public schools. Palacios said most of the responses were about the school lunches.
They sent a second survey asking students what they want to be changed in their cafeterias. 2,000 responses later and students say the lunches are often frozen, undercooked, and unappetizing.
YES formulated six demands from the survey responses to send to MPS:
- Fresh food cooked in schools with locally sourced ingredients served daily
- More options available simultaneously
- Food that accommodates cultural, religious, medical, and dietary needs
- Larger portions
- Hiring more cafeteria staff and increasing their wages
- Regular meetings with MPS administration
The task-force resolution was up for a vote in Thursday night's school board meeting where the auditorium seats were filled with over 50 students fighting for it to be passed.
After over a dozen testimonies, the board unanimously approved the resolution.
“Honestly it might be a tiny bit small in our fight for bigger justice, but it actually feels good to know we as students had our voice actually heard,” said Juliana Cronce, a Sophomore at Riverside University High School.
The Superintendent shared that the district is sending out a survey on Jan. 17 to families of 6th-12th graders to get more community input on school lunches.
Now that this resolution passed, it is heading to the full school board on Thursday, Jan. 19 for approval.
