Dothan High moves from cafeteria to food court

Lunch never looked so good at Dothan High School.

The school recently completed a $350,000 renovation to its cafeteria, moving the facility away from the old lunchroom model to a newer, more modern food court setting. Instead of having just two choices at lunch — a standard school lunch or a brown bag option — Dothan High students now have six types of food from which they can choose.

Christina Johnson, ninth grade academy coordinator, said the change was made to give students more lunch options and to increase space in the cafeteria.

The renovation added about 2,000 square feet of space, allowing the school to serve more students at one time and thus reduce its number of lunch shifts.

“It was time for an upgrade,” she said.

Dothan High operates three lunch shifts per day and serves about 400 students per shift.

Dothan High Principal Matt Humphrey said the renovation makes students feel better about their school, and the increased lunch options make them more likely to eat a school lunch.

“When you provide something nice the kids take more pride in it,” he said. “This year we’re having less problems with getting students to take their trash to the garbage can.”

Gunnar Ford, a student, said he’s pleased with the variety of food offered by the school.

“I like the fact that I can have sweet tea instead of milk when I have money,” he said. “There’s so many choices, it’s really cool.”

Megan Cook also likes the greater availability of choice the new cafeteria set-up offers.

“If I don’t like what they’re having, I can choose something else,” she said.

Some students feel there are some improvements that could be made, however.

Kanesha Thompson wants a relaxation of rules that require students to sit with their lunch period teacher. Jaboria Williams thinks the tables are too small.

Payton Taylor would like the menus to change more often. Overall, however, they feel the new lunchroom setup is an improvement.

“It’s different, it gives us a better variety to choose from,” Taylor said.