Full disclosure: I have not had a school lunch since I was in middle school when I bit into a rubber-like hotdog and felt sick to my stomach. The lunches now seem just as unappetizing, and it would be great to have more options.

If food trucks were brought here at lunch students would be much more inclined to purchase their lunch and the county could hire the food trucks so they make money off of them. “I would love if food trucks were at Wootton because students could have a wider variety of foods to choose from,” junior Alec Yassin said.

The addition of food trucks would bring in even more money for Montgomery County. The schools could hire food trucks and get a percentage of the money they make in exchange for them being allowed on school property. “It would be cool if we had food trucks on school and it could even make money for the county,” junior Jared Rabin said.

A problem arises when it comes to MCPS public school policy, which states that no business can be in competition with the school cafeteria. This makes having food trucks at school impossible. “No one is supposed to be in competition with the cafeteria during lunchtime,” Assistant principal Joseph Mamana said.

Some schools such as Quince Orchard and Richard Montgomery have food trucks but these are not on school property so they are not violating MCPS policy. The school is unable to have food trucks off school property because we don’t have an open lunch, therefore students would have their parents called if they were caught going to the food trucks. “No Montgomery County schools are supposed to have a food truck on school property, if they do it is a violation of school policy,” Mamana said.

If the school were to have an open lunch food trucks would be a possibility, however the school will never have an open lunch because there are no food options close to it. The other schools that have open lunch have restaurants close by that the students can walk to. The students sign a contract saying they won’t drive or be late. “We will never have open lunch because there aren’t any places to get food within walking distance,” Mamana said.

The only way the school could possibly get an open lunch would be if Rockshire became a shopping plaza with restaurants. If the school somehow got open lunch we would be able to have food trucks right outside school property. In order to have food trucks out school there should be a change in MCPS policy that allows them.

Dennis Child

Opinion Editor