Since the beginning of the school year – or at least since the school started using plastic lunch trays – the school has been missing trays. About 146 from the 600 total have been missing, an amount currently costing the school $730.
Since the school began using the plastic trays, they’ve been popping up in places other than the designated areas for tray disposal. Outside, in the garbage bins, outside and inside the school building, in classrooms and in the halls; usually winding up there via careless students. Most are being fished out of the garbage and washed, but those that can’t be found have to be replaced, using funds from the school’s building budget. Money that would otherwise be used to buy new textbooks, school supplies, and other classroom materials are being siphoned to replace plastic trays that otherwise shouldn’t need replacing.
“I think it’s stupid,” said freshman Klarissa Mageroy, “because people can just walk two feet to put them away properly.”
Due to the budget problems, Principal Schwab says this is a big deal. There won’t be any alternatives to the plastic trays, like the Styrofoam trays, since it was by student request that the school went to plastic.
“Students wanted environmentally-friendly trays,” said lunch worker Peggy Ellis. The plastics are also, overall, much cheaper. Styrofoam trays cost $528 a year plus garbage payments, while the plastics cost $3000, at $5 a tray, with just the attached condition of washing them.
“I don’t think it’s very considerate,” said sophomore Brianna Baldwin, “because the school has to pay for those trays.”
According to Ellis, it is not known if there have been any earlier notices have been put out about this problem. However, she also states that the only thing that can be done to stop the loss of the trays is to stop being careless with them. Just putting them away properly is the best place to start. Ellis put it best: “Would you throw your dishes away at home?”