Published: November 25, 2009 12:00 am      

CCS tries to crack down on missing bowls

By MICHELLE MILLER
Staff Writer

Cafeteria supervisor Melinda Kilmer says keeping enough plastic bowls at the Cooperstown Middle/High School has been a problem since she began working there four years ago.

This issue was brought to the attention of the board of education when senior class president Sarah Polus gave a presentation on Styrofoam use in the cafeteria on Nov. 4.

Polus explained that Styrofoam use has increased in the cafeteria because reusable bowls are being thrown away in the trash and taken from the cafeteria. She talked about the impact on the environment and health from using and discarding Styrofoam.

As a possible solution, Polus said the district could provide garbage can covers with holes big enough for garbage, but too small for bowls.

During Wednesday night’s board of education meeting, Amy Kukenberger, school business and building administrator, said she followed up on the concerns by asking members of the student government to get involved.

She said she thought it would be a good idea to have the students educate their fellow students about why they should not be throwing bowls in the garbage.

``I think student-to-student interaction will be more affective than us telling them not to do it,’’ said Kukenberger.

Board member David Borgstrom said he thought the student- to-student communication was a great way to go about working on the problem.

`They (students) have to buy into it, understand it and support it for it to work,’’ he said.

Kukenberger said she spoke with Kilmer about paper versus Styrofoam and found there would be an approximate $60 difference when purchasing the same number of bowls of each product. It would not be cost affective to change our approach, said Kukenberger. Kilmer said she and Kukenberger decided it would be best to purchase more reusable plastic bowls with the hope students will change their behavior with a little more enticing. Kilmer said in the past teachers have appointed ``garbage czars’’ and had students perform skits in the classroom to enforce good garbage behavior.

Creating awareness has been a continuous battle, Kilmer said. In the attempt to crack down on the problem Kilmer said the cafeteria staff will be placing a table near the trash cans so students can place their trays on it instead of having to walk to the dish racks. Our staff will take the dishes in from the table to wash them, said Kilmer.

Kukenberger said she will also be asking the CCS staff to better police the garbage while in the cafeteria. She said she also mentioned having members of the student government make big orange sings to put above the garbage cans.

Both Kukenberger and Kilmer said the problem is only occurring at the middle/high school. Kilmer said this could be because elementary students put their entire tray in the dish room and the adults might keep better track of the younger students. One thing is for sure, it is a lot busier in the middle/high school cafeteria, said Kilmer.

Kilmer said she and her staff try to reduce the use of Styrofoam as much as possible, but have had to use it some for the salad bar and on grilled cheese and tomato soup days.

Both Kilmer and Kukenberger said they have heard that this is not only a problem at CCS, but has been a dilemma at other school districts as well.