CENTER GROVE - Students at Center Grove High School head back to class in a week and one of their daily routines gets a new look for the first time in 25 years.
"This is going to be one of our serving line areas," said Jennifer McFarland, director of food and nutrition services.
For now, there is the dust and clutter that comes with renovation, but when students at Center Grove hit the cafeteria, they'll spend less time in line and more time enjoying lunch.
"The cafeteria is actually completely starting over from scratch. Everything from the floors, the ceilings and walls, a complete renovation," McFarland said.
As enrollment has increased here, the cafeteria has struggled to keep pace.
"A lot of long lines, the kids didn't like to wait, just affected their social time. Plus, they didn't want to purchase, they'd bring lunch from home because of the long lines that were 30-40 kids deep. They only have 30 minutes to enjoy this time," McFarland said.
If that's not cool enough, the air conditioning system will be.
"The air conditioning will be improved here and that will be nice with the cafeteria, because hen you get the ovens and all the equipment back there, it gets very warm," McFarland said.
More than a million dollars in construction bond money is paying for the renovation. School districts across Indiana are facing rising costs. At Center Grove, parents were on the verge of paying $170 in sports participation fees, until a local car dealer stepped up with more than a million dollars in naming rights money for the football field.
Ray Skillman pledged $1.1 million, which will be used to offset costs for sports and the fine arts program. In return, fans will see more advertising around the field. It's a growing trend among school districts looking to defer the expense of traditional programs, who might otherwise have to charge extra fees.
"Once the fees get passed on to the parents, the pay-to-play that was originally proposed, you know, lunch price increase, it hits home hard, it hits harder at home. We don't want to put that impact on our parents if we don't have to," said McFarland.
As for school lunch prices, they will increase at Center Grove by a nickel.
