Student voices matter, no matter how young. Last year, Mrs. Ketner’s second-grade students from North Bend Elementary voiced concerns about the daily disposal of plastic silverware used during school meals. First, the students brought their concerns to Principal Shepherd, who arranged a meeting with the district’s Director of Food Service, Pam Chambers.

After carefully laying out their concerns, the students proposed an environmentally friendly and potentially cost-saving idea of using real silverware to align with the school’s goals of being a “Green School.”

We are proud to announce that starting Tuesday, Nov. 1, the NBES cafeteria will be the first elementary school in the district to be plastic-free as they switch to real silverware. Ms. Chambers has set aside time to work with the students leading up to the rollout to ensure they understand the new procedures for clearing and sorting their dishes.

We are proud of our student activists whose input positively impacts NBES and our district. Additionally, Ms. Chambers is piloting this program at NBES with consideration to making this change district-wide. So please join us in celebrating this incredible student-led accomplishment! Way to go, Panthers!

More photos of this celebration can be found on our Facebook page (no account required).