School lunch at CHS has received a back-to-school makeover. The biggest change is that students can now sign up for MealpayPlus, an online payment server that gives parents the option to put money in their student’s lunch accounts using credit or debit cards.

“We had a lot of parents say, ‘Can I use a debit card? Can I use a credit card?’ (MealpayPlus) gives them access to do it from home, and it also gives them the ability to see what their student’s eating, so it kind of tracks where money’s being spent,” cafeteria manager Anne-Marie Woerner said.

When a student’s lunch account reaches a certain amount, MealpayPlus will automatically withdraw money from the account it’s set up for. As a result, according to Woerner, a student will never run out of lunch money. If a student has an empty account and has forgotten lunch money at home, a phone call to a parent who can add money to his or her student’s lunch account online will fix the problem. This has a 20-minute turnaround, but Woerner said there have been a few cases in which lagging has occurred. There have also been instances in which a student and his or her ID number didn’t match in the new system. However, the number of complaints is lower from last year, which used the MyLunchMoney system.

Woerner said the school cafeteria uses a new point-of-sale computer system to go hand in hand with MealpayPlus. Previous years have seen theft from students using other students’ ID cards or ID numbers. In order to prevent this, students’ pictures appear on the computer screen, and cafeteria workers can match the purchase to the picture of the students’ face when they scan their ID cards.

Greyhound Station also has a new look. The prior orientation of the long serving line changed into two full serving lines. There is also an additional cashier, which now brings the total to four. Additional tables have replaced two knocked-out kiosks, and the cafeteria seats about 32 more students. Woerner said she has now built out all the space she can in Greyhound Station.

Senior Kieran Fiems said he still prefers main cafeteria over Greyhound Station due to the food choices, but he said he acknowledges the fact that the two lines have made Greyhound Station speedier than last year.

Woerner said the changes to the orientation of the lines have caused minimal disruptions.

“The biggest disadvantage I have right now is that because of the two lines, I don’t have a lot of counter space because of the a la carte items . . . and I can really only serve ice cream from one line because the way the line is configured,” she said.

“There’s not much room on the other side. But those, to me, are very small issues. I think the biggest advantage is that we can service kids faster with an actual lunch in front of them. We don’t have that massive, ancient drink cooler that used to be in here.”

In main cafeteria, Woerner said the only change was the home-style line, which has changed to a two-week rotation as opposed to the same meal every week.

Woerner said, “Everything else is on a weekly basis. People were telling me they were tired (of the home-style food) all the time. Well, let’s try it every other week then. That way, you’re not sad we’re not having it, or we’re not having it every Monday.”

Although Fiems said he knows about the changes in the home-style line, the changes don’t affect him as much because he frequents the chicken line.

In order to improve preparation of the school lunch, Woerner said she has bought four combination ovens, which combine steam and convection cooking. A 20-pan unit now resides at Greyhound Station. Although the combination ovens along with the new computer system are expensive, Woerner said she is satisfied because some of the cooking equipment in the cafeterias, especially in the main cafeteria, is 15 to 20 years old.

According to Woerner, she is not planning on any other changes in the school lunch this year. Freshman Cafeteria is the same as last year and has no changes.

“Probably my biggest complaint about my job is that I get very little feedback from students. They don’t tell me if they like it. They don’t tell me if they don’t like it. They’re just in, they get their food and leave . . .  I haven’t had anyone say they hate it. Let’s put it that way,” Woerner said.

Senior Brett Fischl, who buys the school lunch every day, said, “It’s pretty good for a school lunch right now. I don’t really expect any more.”