BCPS Policy Changes How Students Can Purchase Snacks at Lunch

Snacks are a popular purchase choice for students during lunch. How students can purchase those snacks to get them through the second half of their day changed this year though.

At the beginning of the school year, the Office of Food and Nutritional Services sent home a letter that stated, “For Secondary schools the smart snack approved beverages and snacks are available for purchase in new vendingmachines located in the cafeteria. Cash, credit, Google Wallet, and Apple Pay are accepted at the machines. Cash will not be accepted on the serving lines in secondary schools.”

This was a change from what Kenwood High School students were use to being able to do when it came to purchasing snacks during lunch. Now rather than using cash students may have on them, they have to pay for their snacks through their prepaid meal plan that their parents add money to for students to use at lunch time. 

This makes it where students are completely dependent on their parent or guardian making sure their parent has put enough money on their meal account daily to cover the costs for whatever they’d like to purchase. At the high school level, many students work their own jobs and have their own money.

Students now have to depend on their parents to put money on their lunch account. . Kenwood High freshmen Kiley M shares a common frustration of many students, “I went to lunch that first day, and I was mad when they told me I couldn’t buy a snack with my own money. I now have to ask my mom to put money on my account if it’s short, and if she’s busy and doesn’t see my message in time I don’t have money to get lunch.” 

Many students were frustrated by this change. Kenwood High College and Career Social Worker Ms Zent says, “I think there should be many ways to buy snacks from the lunch line. I think that it should be cash, credit card, or maybe even a Kenwood card. This would be a way for all students to buy a snack from the vending machine and from the lunch line.” 

For some students not being able to buy snacks without cash, has meant going through the day without anything to eat because they would have typically bought snacks with their own cash they had on them. However, recently the vending machines,which do take cash, have been up and running more successfully on a consistent basis but if they run out before they’re restocked it leaves some students without their beloved snacks to get them through the second half of their day.

Even though, it may be a hassle to some students that cash is no longer accepted at lunch for snacks, as Kenwood High American Government Teacher Mr. Maki says, “I’m not sure that’s a great choice for everyone, but I think that’s how society is going -everything cashless.”