By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
September 14, 2011

Some students likened it to a prison.

It wasn’t after-school detention or a dull classroom. This “prison” was their cafeteria.

Ellen Cram, Kansas City, Missouri School District food service director, recalled a time a new student walked into the cafeteria at Northeast High School.

“They walked into the cafeteria, looking up at the ceiling and around and said, ‘Oh, my goodness. I must be in hell,'” Cram said.

NEHS’ cafeteria needed an overhaul and the board of education approved funding for remodeling two cafeterias this year: NEHS and Central High School.

“Many of our older dining rooms look like prisons because that’s how we fed our kids years ago,” Cram said. “We started at Northeast because it’s truly in my mind the worst.”

During the summer, the NEHS cafeteria was remodeled, using elements from food courts and fast food restaurants, like the newly remodeled McDonalds, Cram said.

“I would compare it to the top of the line,” she said. “It’s a food court that you would find in Oak Park Mall or Crown Center.”

Purple and yellow accents fill the room and available seating includes high-top tables and black stools, booths, tables for four with decorative chairs, round tables featuring the NEHS mascot and school colors and rectangular tables.

Decorative posters dot the walls with character building messages and a sign welcomes students to the Vikings Galley.

When students saw the cafeteria on the first day of school, they gave Cram hugs.

“They were like, ‘Oh, man, this is great. No one thought anything about us before.’ It made them feel good to know we cared enough to improve that environment,” Cram said.

The cafeteria wasn’t the only thing to change. School menus are also changing, she said. At the high schools, she’s heard, “It’s not cool to eat at school.” But the administration hopes that will change with remodeled cafeterias and updated school menus.

KCMSD surveyed students about their food likes and dislikes and are continuing to adapt the school breakfast and lunch menus accordingly.

“I’m competing with fast food in so many ways – the atmosphere as well as the menu. That’s what the kids are familiar with,” Cram said.

Cram said she’s incorporating elements of a fast food menu, but with a healthy twist. For example, on hamburgers, the school now uses wheat buns and also serves baked fries instead of fried, baked chicken, whole grain pizza with low fat cheese, turkey and chicken breakfast biscuit sandwiches, among other new food items.

“I’ve tried to pick their favorites,” she said. “We want to show kids you’ve got choices and here’s the healthy version.”