by David Brand and Jahari Green
Administrators meet after calm returns to Woodbridge High School as four days of rioting and public disorder come to an end.
The situation began on Monday, March 2nd, as the students of C Lunch began to throw their food at the teachers on assignment to monitor the cafeterias. Several vending machines were broken into and 500 individuals stormed out of the school in protest of the atrocity they call school lunch, and headed to McDonald’s across the street.
Violence then erupted at several other high schools with youth claiming that their anger over the quality of school lunches was justifiable. “We want food made from real stuff, not rubber, man,” said one 10th grader.
The chaos at WHS continued through Tuesday and climaxed when the state police entered the school in order to restore peace. Mobs of teenagers soon overwhelmed the authorities, however, and Woodbridge High School was taken hostage by the students at the start of block 3.
On Wednesday, Governor Christie declared a state of emergency and the National Guard was mobilized. The students barricaded themselves inside WHS, then created a list of demands for lunch that included, “hav[ing] better food, real food, reasonably priced food, and better snacks in the vending machines.”
For several hours, talks were held between both parties before troops stormed the complex. The soldiers used Axe body spray to disperse the rioters and the school was taken back by Thursday morning, just in time for the first bell.
The school administration then invited the executives of the food company to speak to the students in the auditorium on Friday. CEO of Cheap-O-Foods, Will Knot Change III, addressed the restless crowd.
“We understand that the youth of today are upset with our products,” Change III said. “So, we’ve created hip, new choices that are totally radical: cheeseburgers that have 30% less cardboard in them; far out salads with actually pieces of chicken and not some mush created at some factory where pink slime is substituted for meat; groovy bags of Doritos that are now filled with only 40% of air.”
Change later pulled out several of the new items and was met with cheers from the crowd until the students saw that the food displayed was the exact same as before. The price of lunch was also changed to $4.95, up from $3.30, due to the increase in preparation time.
Although students are now angrier than before, there is no need to worry about another riot–the National Guard is expected to remain in the cafeterias indefinitely.
