South Stanly Middle School ran short on entrees on the first day of school, though all children still
received an entree and sides, school officials revealed this week.

“There was an issue the first day of school at SSMS only (to my knowledge) with the cafeteria running
short of one of the entree choices for the last few children due to a larger number of students eating than
had last year,” Mandy Melton, director for child nutrition at Stanly County Schools, said via email on
Wednesday. “But I assure all students were offered an entree and the appropriate number of side dishes,
the choices were just limited.”

The school underestimated the amount of students who would eat a school lunch following menu
modifications.

“We began changing the menu toward the end of last school year to be more geared toward student
preferences,” Melton said.

Melton said the district anticipates having plenty of options available in the future.

“The problem was immediately corrected the next school day with the manager pre-planning for a larger
number of students and there have been no further issues,” Melton said.

Imari Scarbrough is a freelance contributor for The Stanly News and Press.