While we have experienced plenty of change at San Marcos this year, the new system for getting food on campus is one of the most drastic. Now, students are only provided either a breakfast meal, or a snack at nutrition, instead of both. To enforce this rule, students must provide a virtual ID card before getting their food. The reason for all of these changes is due to laws in the state of California that do not allow public schools to provide both a free breakfast and a free snack. The motivation behind this is, of course, the price. By giving out less free meals, the state does not have to spend as much money.
But why does lunch only come from the cafeteria and not the carts around campus? This is, again, due to a state mandate. According to Principal Holden, the state of California mandates every location where food can be bought needs to also have a salad bar. This rule is easy to obey in a place like the cafeteria, where a salad bar is easy to manage and supply. Also, according to Santa Barbara County law, salad bars must be indoors, which means that the outdoor food carts we have become accustomed to must be shut down.
The reason our school must follow these guidelines as strictly as possible is for the sake of government grants. A government grant is one of the many ways the government sends funds to organizations that provide a service for the country. Public high schools definitely do provide a service for the country, so the school gets grants.the government does not provide grants without strings attached, these are called mandated grants and require some action to receive the money. There are specific actions schools need to take in order to get these grants, including having a salad bar everywhere food is sold.
According to our new Principal Holdren, “Grants are very important for our school to function, they help us make San Marcos a better place
While the lack of places to get food on campus is an annoyance, Principle Holdren believes that it will be worth it, and that we will receive more money than we are giving up.
