To the editor:
Ever had a time where you’re caught ranting to your friends about how horrible the mysterious meat your school served for lunch was? Well, about 70% of students do the same according to the USDA and New York University. Wellesley should take action to provide the students with better meals.
Wellesley Middle School started its school year with Chartwells as its new lunch company. They are owned by Compass Group, the world’s largest food service company. Based on a survey our civics group constructed (responses included students, teachers and staff), although most responders think that lunch was pretty much the same compared to the 2024-2025 school year, 88.2% said that school lunch was “bad”, while only 3.2% liked the meals. Results also showed that about 75% of the student body believes that the school lunch has poor quality. Several students describe our school lunch as unsatisfactory. The bread tastes like cardboard, the chicken is often red and uncooked inside, and the beef makes people feel like throwing up. A change is desperately needed to improve the food served in our cafeteria. Students even experience stomach aches after eating the meals. School lunch should enhance learning, not hamper it.
According to Mr. Jacob Martin, the Wellesley Director of Chartwells, the food services company receives only $1.65 to spend per student per day. He also informed us that Chartwells “wasn’t allowed to use salt as seasoning, and not permitted to make any food by frying.”
The evidence has led us to the conclusion that it really isn’t the company’s fault (sorry if you wanted to fire them). If the school receives such a small budget, there is no way to improve the quality of the lunch. We felt bad for Mr. Martin and his team, who our group could see were doing their best with what they had. On top of that, there are strict USDA regulations on the type of food that schools can serve. Mr. Martin and his team had to buy whole-grain products, which were much more expensive than regular food, just to meet the code. In addition, equipment such as plates, forks or spoons are required to be compostable, which severely increased the funding. It is not possible to make tasty food when the program is run on a shoestring. Only the town’s decision-makers can improve this situation.
I agree that the USDA regulations are necessary for children’s nutrition. But to really make a change, we must increase the school’s food budget. At a restaurant, $1.60 can’t buy anything. Help us convince the School Committee to increase the annual school budget.
George Yin
Vihaan Chhajed
Simon Dai
Ayaan Javaid
