By now, you've probably heard about the incident last week where eighth-graders at North Wilkes Middle School put some laxatives into the chili on the lunch buffet line (see below if you haven't). You may have wondered what all the fuss is, because at first, there's a strong element of "kids will be kids" in the responses to the situation. The parent whose boy is the only confirmed case of eating the chili says the school district told him similar things had been happening on a scattered basis for a while -- up to last week, it had consisted of putting "stuff" into the coffeee cups in the teachers lounge.



But the concerned parent has a couple of points -- first off, his kid got sick on the stuff, or so he believes. He didn't take the boy to a doctor for confirmation, and the district didn't test the chili. So the only way we know something was put in the chili is by the admission of the boys who did it. His second point, that with a kid sick over it, the district ought to have notified parents, has some validity. But it is just one case, so far as we know.



I had a long talk with the Health Department inspector yesterday afternoon, and he seems to be the person with the most realistic attitude -- I say that because the school district hasn't responded to a request for comment. It's important to remember the rules governing how schools handle buffet lines are no different than the rules for the buffet line at your favorite restaurant. The Health Department, and state law, don't provide any guidance on preventing food tampering in either situation. There are some pretty clear penalties for people caught tampering with food, but again there are no prevention requirements.



And to do so, given human nature these days, may be nearly impossible, even if, as the parent wants, there is an adult monitoring the line the whole time it's being served from. All it takes is a second of distraction and another slipping something form a pocket into a dish being served. It's a security risk faced by everyone who has a buffet line, and by everyone that eats from a buffet line. The fact that it happened at a school really is of no consequence, as the exact same thing can, and does, happen in regular restaurants -- although I have to point out, there are no records of it ever happening here at any restaurant, school or otherwise, until now.



The parent wants the school to monitor the line. That may or may not help, but it will certainly increase expense. Going back to serving lines would also increase expense. Whether the increased expense is worth paying is a matter for the community to decide...and that's what makes school administration's lack of response on the issue frustrating. It's something the school board should discuss in public session, but we don't know whether that will happen or not. From what the parent tells us, he's been told it won't happen.