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.
