Norwich — The principal and teachers at Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School were not happy this fall with the school's system's response to their objections to students using wrapped plastic sporks with mini-straws every day.

Principal Kristie Bourdoulous sent a photo of the new plastic utensils — a fork and spoon wrapped in individual pieces of plastic — to school district administrators with the message: “I’m not sure this is the solution.”

Assistant Superintendent Thomas Baird, a strong proponent of the environmental sciences magnet program, responded: “Why don’t we just move to metal forks and spoons?”

Starting very soon, the 400 students at Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School will be the first in the district to switch to metal spoons and forks for cafeteria lunches. School Food Services Director Erin Perpetua ordered 800 of each, and the school will start using them as soon as dishwasher containers arrive that can hold the utensils.

Soon after, Kelly Middle School, and then Veterans’ Memorial, Uncas and Wequonnoc Arts and Technology Magnet elementary schools will switch to metal lunch utensils.

Moriarty fourth-grade teacher Lindsay Twitchell, the lead teacher on the school’s magnet theme committee, recalled using metal utensils at the Samuel Huntington School in Norwich in the late 1980s.

“If we could do it then,” she said, “why not now? It’s just a shift in routine.”

Moriarty students already are accustomed to dividing their cafeteria waste for the school's a food compost program. Last week, school Library and Media Specialist Mike Mackie enlisted his fourth-grade enrichment students to record a video tutorial aired on the school morning news on Friday.

“Hello, and welcome to an important announcement,” student Bryson Ochoa said at the start of the video. “As many of you know, we at Moriarty are trying to make the Earth a better place.”

“Plastic is one of the biggest problems that our planet is facing,” student Mason Jimenez said next, “because we use it for almost everything.”

“Because of plastic’s long lifespan, many animals eat it, which is not healthy at all,” student Chloe Beatmear said in the video. “Also, when factories make plastic, it pollutes the air.”

“One step we are taking to avoid the use of plastic is switching from plastic spoons and forks and getting silverware to use in the cafeteria,” student Marina Lathrop said.

“We must make sure not to throw the silverware away after we use it to eat with,” student Amira Plaza said. “It will be washed and ready to be used the next day. Just like you do at home.”

Student Herwen Pierre-Paul then explained that for students in kindergarten through second grade, teachers will come to their cafeteria tables and collect spoons and forks in a bin. She placed a spoon in the bin as she read her lines. Student Gabrielle Otto said students in third through fifth grade will place their spoons and forks in a bin as they return their trays.

“We know you can do this,” Gabrielle said. “Help us be the first school in Norwich to make this important difference.”

The move to metal utensils started with Moriarty's objection to straws in the old spork packets. Last year’s second-grade students researched the effects of plastic straws in the environment. They wrote letters to local businesses explaining that straws cannot be recycled and end up in the environment. They offered suggestions — biodegradable straws or no straws.

“A lot of them don’t want to use straws now,” second-grade teacher Jennifer Manke said of her students.

Perpetua, the food services director, had to figure out the logistics of the switch to metal utensils, including absorbing the costs within the self-funded school food services budget.

The individually wrapped plastic forks and spoons cost “pennies per piece,” Perpetua said. But each metal utensil costs about 50 cents. The dishwasher utensil containers cost about $200 each. Perpetua said she anticipates some utensils will end up in the trash and ordered twice the school’s enrollment of each utensil.

The total cost was $1,335 for Moriarty, $1,000 each for Veterans’ Memorial, Uncas and Wequonnoc and $1,550 for Kelly Middle School. She said she has adequate funds in the budget to cover the cost.

Perpetua said the switch will require more labor to sort the utensils and run the dishwashers an additional time after lunch, and she hasn’t calculated additional water and electric costs.

Metal utensils will be used only during lunch, with afterschool programs in the participating schools to decide whether to use them for suppers. Most students eat breakfast in their classrooms, so it would not be feasible to use metal utensils and return them to the cafeteria for cleaning, Perpetua said.

This isn’t the first time Moriarty has led the district in an environmentally friendly change. Last year, the school pushed to get rid of polystyrene foam food trays for breakfast. The foam trays were removed from all city schools and replaced with cardboard trays. Some other city schools also have gotten rid of straws, Perpetua said.

And if Moriarty Principal Bourdoulous has her way, the school won’t stop at metal utensils. Bourdoulous held up a large plastic bag stuffed full of small plastic bags, slightly smaller than grocery store produce bags. The bags are used in the breakfast line for students to place their prepackaged selections — fruit, a yogurt, cereal or bagel — to take back to class, or for younger students, to their cafeteria seats. Then those bags are discarded.

Bourdoulous proposes buying small reusable buckets or baskets for students to carry their breakfasts to their seats.

“From the cafeteria to the classroom or to their seats,” Bourdoulous said. “They use these bags for maybe 30 seconds to a minute. I think it’s something you have to see to realize, there has to be a better way.”

c.bessette@theday.com