I totally support our students. If they feel better food is available they should fight for their rights to have it. This is a lesson of supply and demand. If the students demand better food, Organic Life will provide it. Boycott the bad food and they'll have no choice.

I don't know if this is related or not, but my son goes to West and he has repeatedly been overcharged for the food on his ID card (for example being charged for 6 bags of french fries in a day). When I called to find out if there was any audit on the cash regsiter to see if this was my son really over-doing it or maybe other children were being over-charged, I was told that not only do they not have any sort of audits or records available on the register but that the cashier just could not make that kind of mistake and wouldn't even consider checking into it.

I received my tax bill the other day - as I'm sure most of you have- and with the amount of money that goes to d219 the least we can get for our kids is decent lunches. This is outrageous. I support the students.

This is what happens when you let government control your life... I commend the kids for standing up and making there voices heard...of course only after it makes the news, does anyone take it seriously.

This food is a disgrace to what is a top notch school. The administration should be embarrassed. Do the teachers and deans eat this garbage? How can the students learn if they don't have the proper nutrients. I could serve healthier, better tasting food at 75% of that price.

The issue of overcharging for poor quality food has been an issue for years.

Several years ago, the business manager and administrators in district 73.5 explained to parents who attended a meeting to discuss this issue that the government does not pay the school "enough" to cover the costs of free and reduced lunches, so the school "has to" pass the expense along, meaning that it is ok for them to serve tiny portions and to overcharge for them.

At that time, it also meant that children as young as five or six were being offered the chance to use the money their parents had put on their lunch debit cards to purchase lunch to buy overpriced fatty, sugary snacks. No one at the school monitored; children regularly racked up large balances without buying anything besides snacks. As previously mentioned, mistakes were next to impossible to correct.

This irresponsible disregard for the parents' budgets and children's health continued because of the disrespectful, dismissive attitude of the administration of district 73.5.

Although district 73.5 schools do not feed into Niles West, it seems that this is more of the same attitude -- you have to pay whatever we charge, even if we are wrong, and we do not have to give you value, because we don't feel like it!

I don't know how we can expect to teach our children to be responsible and respectful towards others when the people who run their schools seem intent on modeling the opposite.

Oliver, I'm glad you agree with me about taking lunch programs out of the schools. It's too bad your comments are meaningless without the use of your real name. Ta! Ta!

God damn breakin news twice on the same subject im in texas on vaca an could care less. Like this is breakin news. Our first lady ran comercials on tv explaining how important it is to eat a balanced meal , then put our econemy in total caiouan reached in our pockets an stole more money from us. WHAT DO U EXPECT. WE CANT AFFORD TO EAT RIGHT THE SCHOOLS CANT AFFORD TO FEED OUR KIDS BUT THE PEOPLE IN POLITICS KEEP GETTING RICHER AN RICHER. WHERE DO U SEE THE PROBLEM

I think it's a ridiculous thought to make students bring their own food. Sure people used to do that, but that was because most moms of that day were stay-at-home moms who had the time to prepare meals. Today everyone works and this is simply not an option for most parents. And forcing all students to make their own lunches? I an a college student and graduate of Niles West and I can say that those students have tremendous responsibilities. They have to get up for school way earlier than I do, and many of them stay there until dinner time, involving themselves in school activities. They obviously love West to devote so much of their time and energy to making it better, and the school should provide them with the necessary sustenance to do so, namely by increasing the portions but not the price. If the kids are going to give so much to the school, a place they, by law, are required to be, shouldn't the school at least feed them right?
Emily R, former student.

I was one of those weirdos who brought my own lunch almost exclusively from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The school lunch system is bad in almost all districts, I think, and Niles West is only a small part of a larger issue. While I think there should be decent quality cafeteria food, the idea that you need a "stay-at-home mom" to make you food when you're in high school perplexes me. It takes all of ten minutes to make a sandwich. There are plenty of sides that require almost no preparation, like a lot of fruit (apples, grapes, etc) and granola bars, fruit snacks, potato chips, and other processed food of varying healthiness.

I would make myself a sandwich of some sort every night before school, rinse some fruit, and throw in a small bag of potato chips or whatnot. Busy as I was, it took me ten minutes max, and I rarely bought a single thing from the Niles West cafeteria. I graduated from West in '09, so suffice it to say I've never experienced the current food, but I didn't experience the old food either. I think it is good for the students to learn how to make foods that are simple and quick but still taste relatively good. It's a skill I've continued to develop through college, and it's served me well. I wish I knew about hummus and pita bread when I was in high school (hint, hint).

I hear the Surf and Turf and Valet parking are gone now too. The poooooor children. High School kids today are pampered and treated like kings. Shut up and study.