This year, Cotter schools has changed their old lunch plan for a new one, changing prices, serving sizes, and food options.

Do the positives of the change outweigh the negatives?

Many students would argue that they do not. Portion sizes have gotten smaller, and prices have increased.

“There were a lot of complaints about portion size.” student council member Megan Costello said.

The Cotter student council has recently met to discuss these complaints and a possible solution.

“We met with Rachel.” said Costello, referring to the staff member in charge of the food and dorm life at Cotter, “She’s very open to ideas.”

During the meeting, two primary ideas were developed. The first idea is the implementation of an app called Nutraslice, which will allow students to submit their opinions on school lunches.

“It’s actually really helpful,” Costello said. She explained that while very few students know about or use the app, only a few students would need to for it to start reflecting in the lunches.  “They don’t want us to get, like, overboard with it.”

The second course of action by the student council was to set up a special group to deal with food related issues, made up of council members Ema Stankova, Tomas Castillo-Pelaez, and Savannah Welters. This group will focus on things like vegetarian alternatives to the school lunches.

“Tomas is sick of tofu.”  council member Lea Hyzova said, noting the lack of vegetarian options.

So far among the council itself, opinions on the school lunch have been mixed. Costello said that personally, she likes the lunches, while Hyzova expressed a desire to never eat the school rice again. Among non-council members, opinions are even more varied. When asked about the lunches, senior John Littrell described them as “fat and juicy,” refusing to elaborate further. It is unclear what that means. “They’re like fifty dollars. They’re not worth it… I just eat Chef Boyardee and microwave mac and cheese out of my locker,” said sophomore Oscar Heckman.

The Nutraslice app is available for free on the app store for students who wish to use it.