When the lunch bell rings, hundreds of students flood Carlmont’s cafeteria lines. Behind the counter, cafeteria staff navigate the rush, coordinating with each other while racing against the clock to serve everyone before the next bell.
Every day, students pass through the cafeteria, creating long lines and high-traffic periods. The large number of students makes it difficult to serve everyone quickly, and the responsibility falls on the cafeteria staff to ensure students have enough time to eat.
“It takes a long time to get the food, and some people cut the line. Sometimes, it can get disorganized,” said Jack Hayatdavoudi, a Carlmont sophomore who regularly gets school lunch. “I think it’s because we all enter in one big area, and then it gets funneled down into just two thin lines.”
As more students began relying on school-provided meals, especially after the pandemic, the cafeteria experienced an increase in demand, as part of California’s statewide initiative to support free meals for students.
In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 130 into law, establishing California’s Universal Meal Program (UMP) and making the state the first in the nation to provide free breakfast and lunch to students to every public school student. Since the policy took effect in the 2022-2023 school year, the number of meals served at Carlmont has nearly tripled.
“When the state of California passed legislation to provide free lunch for students, our lunch lines went from several hundred students to at least a thousand students a day,” said Carlmont administrative vice principal Grant Steunenberg. “The biggest challenge was managing such a large group safely and efficiently while also minimizing conflict.”
While lines remain busy, the cafeteria staff and administration have experimented with different strategies to improve efficiency. One major improvement has been the replacement of older, flimsy stanchions with blue plastic barriers, which help guide students into organized lines and prevent cutting.
Additionally, Carlmont employs students who work alongside cafeteria staff to issue food and ensure that people enter their correct identification numbers. According to Steunenberg, students can apply for the position through the district. Once accepted, they’ll be connected to Gail Horn, the Food Services Lead, who will assist them with the sign-up process, during which they’ll be paid and trained to contribute to the cafeteria.
These student workers play a crucial role in speeding up services, greatly increasing the number of students they can serve at once.
“We don’t have enough staff to service every register, so the workers are an important part in serving the students quickly,” Horn said. “The students help us a great deal. They are pleasant, dependable, and reliable.”
Students who get lunch have also noticed the difference these lunch line workers make, especially during the lunch rush.
“I’ve noticed that when the student workers are not around, it goes slower because they’re understaffed,” Hayatdavoudi said. “But when they are there, it goes a lot faster.”
Despite the challenges of space and staffing, students continue to appreciate the effort.
“The food is usually pretty good,” Hayatdavoudi said. “I’ve noticed that the staff work very hard moving food from station to station. They pop between different stations and are quick about giving people food.”
Cafeteria staff and administration work tirelessly to provide a variety of meals and options to keep students satisfied, accommodating specific needs while maintaining smooth operations in spite of space and staffing limitations.
“Gail Horn is an amazing manager,” said Carlmont administrative vice principal Gregg Patner. “The employees working in the kitchen work hard to prepare and cook the food. It is a monumental task to get food ready for 1200 kids in a couple of hours.”
