Central High School students may have lost their long-standing open campus lunch policy with the completion of the new $18 million facility, but they gained a seemingly endless amount of choices in the school cafeteria.

As with almost everything in the new high school, the cafeteria is state-of-the-art and leaves little for students to complain about, said assistant principal Al McFerren.

Simple things like flower arrangements and baskets bearing fresh fruit make it look a little less like a school cafeteria.

As the lunch bell rings, students swarm in, grab a bright orange plastic tray and head to the food station of their choice.

It's a routine they've grown familiar with over the past few weeks, although it was a big adjustment for most students. At the Caruthers Avenue campus, students could either leave campus for lunch or choose between two entrees in the cafeteria.

"It took a long time to condition the students," said cafeteria manager Shireen Ecklemann. "So many of them had never eaten in a school cafeteria before. They didn't know how to pick up a plate lunch."

Seven shining stainless steel food stations feature daily selections of pasta, pizza, Mexican cuisine, grilled sandwiches, main fare, salads and made-to-order deli sandwiches.

For $1.75, students receive milk, a choice of entrée and three side orders. At an additional cost, students may purchase ala carte items like jalapeno poppers, double-cheeseburgers and popcorn chicken. Also available, but not included in the regular meal, are bagels, ice cream, fountain sodas and fruit slushies.

To help speed up the process, menu signs instructing students on which foods are included in the regular $1.75 meal were posted at each station.

McFerren said the school has now cut the serving time during each lunch period in half from the amount of time it took to serve on the first day of school.

"I'll admit I had some concerns at first. But after the second day, I could see it was going to work out really well," said McFerren, who monitors the lunch periods.

Adjusting to the new routine, expanded food selections and the increased numbers of students eating was difficult for the cafeteria staff as well.

"I was in shock the first day, it was so overwhelming," Ecklemann said.

Ecklemann said the cafeteria at the old high school only served around 175 students total per day. Now, it serves 1,000 students every day.

The transition was made easier by the employment of nine additional kitchen staff members. Plastic utensils, plates and cups make cleaning up easier too.

While each lunch period usually brings between 200 and 300 students, it doesn't take long to get them seated and eating thanks to a new system of payment, McFerren said.

Students deposit lunch money in drop-boxes before school, and the money is accessed through their student identification cards.

"The thing I'm really impressed with is students are able to pre-pay and their credit shows up on their ID cards, which are scanned after they've gotten their food," McFerren said. "No money exchanges hands, and that saves time."

McFerren said the quality of food is something to be proud of as well.

"I've eaten there every day since day one, and I'm a picky eater," he said.

Students have a choice of dining inside or outside on picnic tables. And for those students still skeptical of eating school food, there are vending machines.

But the vast majority of students, 90 percent according to Ecklemann, choose to eat the cafeteria's food.

"I don't know a place in Cape where students and adults can eat for this price. No one else in town is serving this many people at one meal either," Ecklemann said.

"There are other schools doing this, but not many. These kids are very fortunate," she said.

cchitwood@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128