By Max Bleich, Staff Writer

It’s another day in the cafeteria. After making your lunch selection, you sit down to eat. But then you realize… There are only spoons. You think to yourself, “How am I going to eat salad with a spoon?”

This scene was all too common in the BHS cafeteria this year, leaving students frustrated and angry, until the week before spring break. On Wednesday, March 23^rd, Principal Robert Hardis made an announcement that new forks would be available, and that anyone caught throwing forks away would be punished.

Hardis told the Beachcomber, “I believe that a few students– ten to twenty of them–have purposely been throwing forks away, thinking it would make us switch back to plastic silverware.”  Hardis views this as “stealing money from the school by throwing the silverware into trash cans.”

One of the students responsible for bringing metal silverware to BHS was Scott Remer, head of the Ecology Club’s Project Green Awareness in Action (GAIA). Remer wrote in an email, “The reason metal silverware was brought in was because of the unnecessary waste of resources that using plastic silverware entailed. Every day, we went through hundreds of pairs of plastic forks, knives, and spoons – all of them headed to the landfill – for no apparent reason other than convenience.”

Remer also wants students to consider the consequences of their actions. “Is it too much to ask to return your silverware after eating? … It just disturbs me that people can be so uncaring – remember that the school’s money is taxpayer money, and to waste it is unconscionable, particularly in these tough economic times,” wrote Remer.

But it is not like these forks were dirty or covered in used food particles. According to Hardis, “These forks go through an extensive rinse cycle, two in fact. Actually, when we switched to metal silverware, we also bought machines specifically made to wash our silverware to keep things as clean as possible.” The two rinse cycles themselves go well over one hundred and ninety degrees, and they’re so hot that they need a few minutes to cool off before being touched.

Nonetheless, some students feel that the dishwashing machines do not adequately clean.

Sophomore Mercedes Hudson feels that the silverware and the trays are not as clean as they should be, and claims to have even found some rather disturbing “leftovers” on them. However, after investigating, the Beachcomber was unable to find anything worse than a water spot.

The BHS cafeteria is run by the food service AVI. AVI Director Kim Vestal reports having had students tell her employees that they wanted their plastic forks back. Only days later, forks and other silverware began to disappear. Along with these reports from students planning silverware mutiny, Vestal also had a number of strange objects delivered to her; food trays being used as paint trays and spoons twisted and turned like a Gumby action figure.

Although students have gotten over the lack of silverware this year, Hardis hasn’t. “If you purposely throw out a fork in the trash can, you will not just have to fish it out- but you will also be assigned to in-school suspension,” he said.

A couple of weeks ago, sophomore Jared Williams was caught throwing away a tray right in front of Assistant Principal Paul Chase. He was later pulled aside by both Chase and Hardis. “I was just going to throw my food away when I accidentally dropped the tray into the garbage as well. I didn’t know what I was doing, and it was completely accidental,” exclaimed Jared.

So there you have it. Forks are returning and hopefully, with time, things at BHS will return to normal. Granted, students need to understand the sheer value and cost of their actions. The school has invested a lot of money into the metal silverware, as well as in the dishwashers.