City Schools' Cafeteria Issues

In light of the recent attention given to long-standing work issues involving Monroe City Schools cafeteria employees, Monroe City Schools Board members are looking for solutions to adequately address those issues. The problems that cafeteria workers face are long hours on their feet, understaffing, no personal break time, issues keeping the cafeteria clean, low pay for many, and perhaps just a little recognition from their bosses. The Monroe Dispatch is doing a series of articles highlighting issues that employees say are prevalent in the school cafeteria system. All sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, and all say that changes are long overdue. As cafeteria employees that handle and serve food to students daily, it is important that each serving is of high quality and meets the required student standards. A recent revelation alleges that some of the food schools receive is often low quality. The source said that the food schools receive comes from local food distributors, which has to be returned upon further inspection. One example was that lettuce received at a school had been shown to have more of a brown color than a healthy-looking green color. When the distributor was notified, that source said that the school allegedly had to take the food back. The distributor does not come to the school to retrieve it. The source also said that the district, through its cafeteria system, allegedly “throws away a lot of food” as the food could be beyond the expiration date. Not only are there food freshness issues that employees must contend with, but the source shared that a lot of the cafeterias have equipment that should be modernized. Though there are technicians to handle repairs, some older equipment, like freezers, could stop working during overnight hours. By the time workers discover it, food has been slowly defrosting, which requires use or disposal. Social media posts by concerned citizens point to Neville High School food issues, as some parents are preparing bag lunches. Neville is not alone, as social media indicated that conditions like those also allegedly exist at Carroll High School.

There appears to be a balancing act needed to adequately serve quality and nutritional food that students find appealing to eat. School board president Bill Willson, who returned from a trip, responded to food issues he heard at Neville. Willson said that a meeting was held at Neville in hopes of addressing those issues and ways to prevent them. Willson said that nothing intentional was done, as the district will comply with state and federal regulations, and students who request seconds can receive them. Though Willson thanked those who brought the food issues to his attention, he said that using social media is handy and that sometimes reaching out to the leadership of the school of concern is a more effective first step. We now know that cafeteria issues affect all schools within the district, including its flagship institute of learning. At its January 2023 meeting, the school board said it would be doing something concerning other cafeteria issues, not just pay issues. Cafeteria employees would like to handle labor disputes on a face-to-face basis, but sometimes cafeteria employees feel that they are ignored, as sometimes the only option left available is to bring their concerns to the media, whether print or video and even still felt like no one cared.