More Cheesy Drama Down in Lunch Lady Land

The Atlantic City High School lunch ladies, now known for their infamous “cheese sandwich” punishments for food fights, have struck again and this time they have a message: “Don’t mess with the lunch ladies.”

A controversy that began in April among some parents and high school students, the Atlantic City High School cafeteria workers offered only cheese sandwiches during lunch for students who had participated in a food fight.

The two-pieces-of-bread, one-slice-of-orange-colored cheese cuisine outraged parent Bridgitte Reid in April. Reid called the cheesy retribution for a cell-phone coordinated fight a “crime” and a “prison meal.”

But the lunch ladies would not be swayed. Yet two more food fights broke out this week and the cafeteria workers, donning T-shirts that read  “A.C.H.S. Home of the Cheese Sandwich” on the front and “Don’t mess with the Lunch Ladies” on the back served up the sparse meal Wednesday and plan to continue for the rest of the week.

"We work hard and it's not fair to us either," said cafeteria worker Jasmine Torres.

The T-shirts were inspired by April’s news coverage of the incident and came about when the school’s art teacher collaborated with a local T-shirt business.

But some parents and students were not amused.

"It's just stupid," said student Mauricio Barbosa Thursday.

"Come on, a cheese sandwich is jail food, it's not for kids," Antoinette Centeno, the mother of a sophomore, complained to NBC Philadelphia. "All day in school they need something in their stomach."

Atlantic City High principal Oscar Torres backed up the cafeteria workers choice of punishment, saying that the meal meets the state requirements and sends a message to the students.

"It is nutritional," he said. "We're not going to tolerate students throwing food in the cafeteria."

But students say since the food's not edible in their eyes, it'll still go airborne.

"Usually when they give the cheese sandwiches they throw it anyway," Ricky Nguyen said.

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