The McComb High School cafeteria is nothing like it was when Dricka Jackson was a student there.
Gone are tasteless, gray soy burgers and square pizza slices served on trays more familiar to prison inmates than students. They’ve been replaced with hot wings, chicken tenders and loaded baked potatoes in a setting befitting a restaurant, with booths and tables in school colors.
“I finished from here and it was nothing like this,” said Jackson, a 1989 MHS grad.
One job perk includes a free meal, which Jackson said helps the cafeteria staff ensure they’re serving quality food.
“We don’t want to give nobody nothing that we don’t want,” she said.
The five-year employee of the school district’s child nutrition program has found her niche working in the cafeteria, she said.
“I love it,” Jackson said.
And a lot of people love her, apparently, because out of all the “lunch ladies” who work school cafeterias in Southwest Mississippi, Jackson was voted the best in the Enterprise-Journal’s 2023 Education Awards.
“I’m just thrilled. I’m beyond excited,” Jackson said of the honor. “I’m shocked, really. I’m not saying I’m not a good one, now.”
For Jackson, working in the cafeteria means more than a paycheck. It brings stability into her life at a time when she needs it the most.
Jackson was working as a waitress at The Dinner Bell restaurant when the death of her husband threw her into a tailspin. She enjoyed her job at the iconic McComb restaurant, whose classic Southern cooking makes it seem like everybody’s grandmother is working in the kitchen, but it didn’t come with insurance. That had come with her late husband Jamie’s job.
“I really just had to change,” she said. “I have two grown children and I have a 13-year-old.”
Her mother-in-law Joann Jackson, now retired, was working in the central office of the McComb School District and told her about an opening in the nutrition department. The state benefits were just what Jackson and her daughter needed, her mother-in-law told her.
“She talked to me and she said, ‘Dricka, you’re going to be OK,’ ” Jackson said.
And for a single parent, the schedule of the job couldn’t be beat.
“She reminded me that her days would be my days. When she’s on break, I’m on break,” Jackson said.
She went to work in the cafeteria of Kennedy Early Childhood Center before being moved to Denman Junior High School and then to her current post at McComb High. Over the past five years, she’s worked in every cafeteria in the school district, moving around from one school to another as needed during summer break, when the district operates a meal program for students in the district.
Jackson said she and the rest of the cafeteria staff have a full day of work. “Basically, come in the morning, make breakfast for the children, serve them. Then we go into lunch,” she said.
Jackson said something else is different about the cafeteria compared to her days as a student: “As far the kids, they like it.”
Hot wings are the most popular item on the menu, and chicken tenders and pizza — two varieties, one with a flatbread crust and another traditional, round pizza cut into eight slices — are among the most craved offerings as well.
The loaded baked potato also is popular.
“We actually make a potato that’s nice. It has fajita meat and cheese,” she said.
Jackson said when she was a student, her favorite meal was fish on a bun.
“We have a fish on a bun here but it’s nothing like that,” she said, adding that it has improved over the years.
Other items include red beans and rice, chili with no beans, and a slice of grilled cheese.
Jackson said cafeteria food is less salty and fresher nowadays, with more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Another change with the times is the price of a school lunch at McComb, or lack thereof. When Jackson was in school students either paid full price for a meal, a reduced price or nothing at all, depending on their family’s income. That meant students waiting in line to pay could tell which of their peers were well off and which were impoverished.
McComb’s demographics have considerably changed since then, and the district’s poverty rate is so high that no student, regardless of what their family earns, pays for a meal. They just give a number that’s logged into the computer.
But there’s a catch. All of the meals are reimbursable by the government — as long as students eat the right things.
“They have to pick up certain items in order for us to get paid back for it. It’s called a reimbursable meal,”she said. “When they get to that line and put their number in, we’ve got to make sure they have those components.”
While the circumstances that brought Jackson to her job were rooted in tragedy, Jackson said the career change has been good for her and her family.
She loves working for the school district and serving the students.
“I couldn’t ask for nothing better. The kids are great, the staff is great,” she said. “I hope I can retire. I wouldn’t mind staying here until retirement.”
