When junior Ella Trotter walks into the lunchroom, she hopes the school will provide better food options.

“Instead of having processed and healthier foods, you should just have real foods. Get real stuff,” Trotter said.

Superintendent Rob Metz said plans are underway to implement a lunch program similar to that of Hopkins Public Schools.

“We are contracted with the head of school nutrition in Hopkins to advise us. Hopkins prepares nearly all their school lunches from scratch, and it is our goal to do the same someday,” Metz said.

Metz said a central kitchen is being discussed in order to establish a system similar to Hopkins’.

“We will have a referendum next fall, and it will likely include money to build a new central kitchen. The central kitchen would allow us to prepare a majority of our food from scratch,” Metz said.

Hopkins Public Schools director of nutrition and lifestyle services Barb Mechura said the  changes were made in Hopkins because of the important impact lunches have in students’ lives.

“Science has shown that food and activity are two of the most important influences on our overall health and brain skills,” Mechura said. “These two choices affect everything.”

Trotter said she thinks considering natural options and ingredients would be valuable.

“(Lunch) would be tastier and better for you if they were like natural foods,” Trotter said.

According to Metz, a two-year strategic plan is being written for this project.