The Montgomery County School Board plans to create a task force to examine the quality of meals in the district.

At a meeting last week, student council member Hana O’Looney offered to start the group in response to complaints and concerns she heard from other students across the county. Complaints, she said, range from quality issues to choices that don’t take into account people’s religious or medical dietary restrictions.

During recent school board meetings, particularly during deliberations on the budget for the next fiscal year, students have testified to the need for better meals.

Some said that students sometimes go skip lunch because there are no good options.

O’Looney’s proposal would create a working group that would meet between the spring and winter of this year to review meals:

• Sizes
• Inclusiveness of cultural, religious and dietary restrictions
• Nutritional value.

Recommendations on how to improve school meals would be due by December 31, with recommendations to be incorporated into the fiscal year 2024 budget.

Members of the working group must be made up of at least 40% students, particularly those in specialized secondary programs focused on the food or health industries.

The school board plans to vote on O’Looney’s proposal at its next meeting on May 10.

Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at [email protected]