As the SFHS Media staff brainstormed story ideas, someone said it would be cool if students could have input into the lunch menu.
“They can,” piped up senior Tony Tobako, “Didn’t you read your student handbook?”

Apparently, even though we all signed off that we had, Tony was the only one on staff who actually remembered the passage printed under Nutrition Services.

According to the student handbook, “The Student Lunch Committee meets monthly to plan menus, resolve problems, and taste new items. Students who wish to volunteer their time on this committee, are invited to contact the high school manager at 763-213-1625.”

Now we were on a quest to find the truth behind this committee.

“There is not (a committee) that I’m aware of,” said Patricia Watson from nutrition services. “There is a committee of parents, students and faculty members that meets once a month that we sometimes speak with.”

This led us to speak with Assistant Principal Jill Engquist. Watson was referring to the SMC, a shared decision making governing board that meets monthly.

“The focus of the SMC is any major decision that would affect the policy of the school for advisement decision or shared decision with administration,” said Engquist. “If there were a change, concern or recommendation that would come up, it would go to one of the SMC members who would bring it to our meeting to talk about and to vote on any proposed change.”
Student Council Adviser Julie Cuscaden explained that they are looking for a student to serve on SMC.
“We need someone to fill in the Junior representative,” she said. Signs are posted up around the school and students should speak with Cuscaden if they are interested.
“One of the roles of the student representative is that they need to attend the student council meetings to obtain information about what student council is working on and report to the SMC so the members are in the loop,” said Engquist.
“SMC meetings are the first Monday of the month. They are open meetings, so anyone can come and observe. They can’t speak unless they set that up prior with Mr. Graves, the SMC Chair,” said Engquist
When we looked up SMC or lunch committee on the schools website, nothing came up .
However, according to the handbook, there could be a lunch committee if students wanted to form one and students can always bring concerns to the Site Management Council.