By Madie Murray
It’s no secret the school cafeteria, located in the 1960’s middle school building is old. And, if you took the tour of the school offered by the School Board and Yes Committee recently, you saw for yourself a tiny, cramped area with skimpy prep areas, mostly old equipment and refrigerator/freezer locations scattered around in the cafeteria commons area and into the delivery area. This space, which has adapted to the easily forgotten times of plastic bagged sandwiches and deep fried processed French fries, now produces up to 300 delicious meals mostly made from scratch with locally produced fresh food products.
Like our school as a whole, the cafeteria is making the best of a difficult situation. Because it does, it prompts the belief that we don’t need refurbished buildings to produce a quality end result. That’s true. Because the cafeteria employs an incredibly efficient, dedicated staff who devote themselves to the health of our children, they succeed in their tasks.
That’s exactly what the entire staff and administration of our K-12 campus does…they succeed in their tasks in spite of their surroundings. Does this mean our school lunches and academic achievements would decline if they were housed in safer, cleaner, healthier, more efficient buildings? That seems to be what some people believe. “I taught in 100-year-old buildings and our kids turned out okay” is a familiar mantra and is true. Our kids are turning out okay, too! But I’m betting that those 100-year-old buildings were better built, maintained, and updated by adequate and regular bonds.
Of course I want our kitchen staff to be given energy efficient refrigeration and freezers, more space to prep and serve fresh organic foods from our local farms, equipment that isn’t jury-rigged to last one more school year, and a space to efficiently move around during the fevered pitch of the lunch hour. But what I also want is for our community to feel good about giving them that space, knowing our superior, dedicated staff will not waiver in putting it to good use.
If you take that very thoughtful step to check off YES for the school bond, you can rest assured our staff and kids will continue to excel and produce excellence.
Madie Murray is the Chair of the Orcas Island Farm to Cafeteria Program
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