Students Share Opinions on School Lunch

Throughout 2021-2022, Arrowhead High School offered free lunches for all students because of the Covid-19 pandemic. These lunches included one fruit, a carton of milk, the main dish, and one side dish.

At the start of the 2022 school year, school lunches are no longer available  to the entire student body for free. 

Deborah Pardowski, Associate Principal at Arrowhead, says, “free lunches were once funded by the government during Covid but now that funding is no longer available.”

She says Arrowhead will still provide lunches for those who qualify for free or reduced lunch. The process to get these reduced prices is to fill out an application to assess whether the student qualifies for the program. The directions for the application process are linked here.

The prices for student meals range from breakfast for $1.80, and lunch for  $3.25. Those who have access to reduced lunch pay 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch.  

Ava Ramos, a senior said, “I think school lunches not being free this year will make kids not eat anymore. It doesn’t affect me. I think that other kids at school already don’t eat lunch so the fact that it’s not free will make them not eat even more.”

Ray Wolf, a junior said, “It’s really annoying since last year I had 50 dollars left in my account and my mom told me I had to make sure that I spread it out but since lunch isn’t free anymore the money is going away faster than it used to.”

Qualifying for Free and Reduced lunch can also grant you the opportunity to free or reduced book fees, athletic fee and applicable classroom fees. To apply, fill out the Sharing Information with Other Programs form.