Catholic High School Is First in U.S. to Switch to McDonald’s

A financially ailing private school is becoming the first high school in the nation to scrap its standard school food fare for a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant on the cafeteria premises, it was reported today.

Holy Cross High School, a Roman Catholic Church-run school on San Antonio’s West Side, this fall will offer those familiar hamburgers, fries and sodas served up by McDonald’s blue-uniformed employees.

The fast-food chain giant’s corporate offices in California confirmed that franchise operator Richard Contreras is the first person to open a McDonald’s satellite restaurant in a high school cafeteria.

“At first I thought it was a crazy idea,” Contreras told the San Antonio Light in an interview published today. “But the more I thought about it, the more I thought I could make it work.”

School trustees applauded the move as a way to reduce a $50,000 budget deficit, of which half could be blamed on the cost of operating the school’s cafeteria, Brother Peter Mullet, the school’s principal, said.

Not everyone was enthusiastic.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a junk food outlet, but obviously there was some concern on the board’s part and by parents,” school board President Larry Noll said.

But Contreras handed out nutrition charts at the school’s parent orientation meeting last week and said the reaction was positive.