STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — More New York City public middle and high schools will get upgrades to their cafeteria, thanks to another $150 million in capital funding from the city budget.
The New York City Council called on the mayoral administration to provide the funds to complete cafeteria enhancements in all schools that didn’t have one.
“An additional $150 million allocation will enable the SCA [School Construction Authority] to complete the enhancements in the remaining elementary schools that are currently not scheduled for cafeteria upgrades,” according to the Council’s preliminary budget response.
The city voted to adopt the Fiscal Year 2024 budget on June 30.
The Cafeteria Enhancement Experience transforms spaces into warm and welcoming places for kids to enjoy nutritious meals. It’s centered around four core pillars: student choice, fast service, modern style and new furniture.
Prior to the enhancements added to the budget, the administration had stated that over-consumption of school food due to these enhanced programs and the increased need for meals among students resulted in a reduction in per meal expenditures. In January, the city removed popular menu items from school cafeterias like cookies, chicken dumplings, roasted chicken thighs, guacamole and salsa, and bean and cheese burritos. By March, many of those items were back on menus.
Several public schools across the five boroughs already have enhanced cafeteria experiences. A new School Kitchens Dashboard, created by the city Department of Education (DOE), allows you to search different aspects of school cafeterias in schools, including the kitchen type, if it offers halal, if it has a salad bar, has a garden, and if it was already part of the cafeteria enhancement program.
Here are the Staten Island schools with cafeteria enhancements, according to the city’s dashboard.
- Egbert Intermediate School (I.S. 2), Midland Beach
- Bernstein Intermediate School (I.S. 7), Huguenot
- Prall Intermediate School (I.S. 27), West Brighton
- Dreyfus Intermediate School (I.S. 49), Stapleton. This also includes the co-located middle school of the Eagle Academy for Young Men of Staten Island.
- Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61), Brighton Heights
- South Richmond High School I.S./PS 25, Pleasant Plains
- The Michael J. Petrides Education Complex, Sunnyside
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