Five Lansing Middle School Student Council Organization (SCO) members reported to the Board Of Education last week on their effort to provide more vegetarian options to their school lunch menu.  The Council reported on the results of a survey they distributed to learn how many vegetarians attend the school, and how best to serve their dietary needs.  SCO Sixth Grade Representative Ally Prudence told the Board that most meals offered are not acceptable to vegetarians.

"Even the salads in our cafeteria contain meat," she said. "And with the quesadillas or the burgers and chicken patties, we have seen vegetarians scraping off the meat and only eating the bread. This does not seem to be a healthy or nutritious option.  So we gave a survey to see if the students wanted more vegetarian options, if they had any allergies, if they buy lunch, or if they would buy lunch if there were more options."

Prudence was joined by SCO President Vienn Rutherford-Reed, Vice President Sam Bell, Secretary Alea Phanhthalath, and Fifth Grade Representative Kelly Miller in presenting the results of their survey.  The survey identified vegetarians.

"Plenty of people said that they can’t get enough to fill their daily requirements," Prudence said. "People also said that they would buy more regularly if there were more vegetarian options."

The survey found that 7.5% of the 277 students who returned the survey are vegetarians, and 8 students have allergies to nuts, soy, or dairy.  38% of the 21 vegetarians who responded said they have other allergies.  11 of the vegetarians currently buy school lunches, and 29% bring their own.  The survey asked whether current lunch options fulfill their daily requirements.

"Three people said yes, which is 14%, said Phanhthalath. "86% of vegetarians at LMS do not feel as though the options fulfill them.  We asked 'Would you buy more regularly if there were different options?' 15 people said yes, which was 71%."

She added that some vegetarian options have been added since SCO began looking into it, including vegetarian quesadillas, chick peas and eggs with salads, with meat on the side, and black bean taco filling.  Students also suggested that veggie burgers, plain tofu, more fruit, meatless salad and alternatives to meat, pasta without meat sauce, and more vegetarian main meals be added to the lunch fare.

"Our overall plan is to offer equal vegetarian hot lunch options which are vegetarian friendly," Bell said. "We're also trying to make sure that the lunches qualify as a meal, because you have to meet certain requirements to make sure vegetarian lunches are actually considered meals."

SCO members said they want vegetarian meals to be offered at all three district schools, and requested a garden on the school campus so students may grow their own food.  Bell also said the SCO wants Lansing schools to buy local when possible, and to make the proposed changes in an economically responsible fashion.  he noted the proposed changes would not impact school taxes, but might raise the price of school lunches.

Rutherford-Reed said that SCO members visited a local school garden to get ideas and advice.  She said that Middle School teacher Stacie Kropp will apply for grants to fund the garden, which students plan to work on growing next year.

School Board member Aziza Benson noted that Lansing has a lot of farmers who might be willing to help.  Board member Susan Tabrizi asked whether students are buying the new options that have already been made available.

"It's not only vegetarians that are buying the vegetarian food," Rutherford-Reed said.  "A lot of the kids who really like meat are saying the vegetarian options are much better than the meat options."

Rutherford-Reed asked the school board for monetary support, a place to locate a community garden, and support for the cafeteria to continue to change the menu.  Superintendent Chris Pettograsso noted SCO members had met with her, as well as the Health Advisory and Shared Decision Making group to promote their initiative.

"We've talked at the board level and we're here to support you," she said.  "They have been very comprehensive in their approach to this, and they are definitely a model for other groups to use when they want to make change happen."

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