soda in schools - 8/28 - Portland [Maine] Press

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Changing Tastes

By MELANIE CREAMER, Portland Press Herald News Assistant

The SAD 61 Board of Directors didn't want to wait until January to see
if the Legislature will pass a bill to ban the sale of candy and soda in
schools. On Aug. 18, the board took a stand and passed a policy itself.

The School Administrative District 61 board teamed up with Changing the
Scene, a committee working to promote healthier food choices and
physical activity in schools to give students more nutritious choices in
lunch menus and vending machines.

The sale of soda and candy will be strictly prohibited by any school
group on school grounds at any time. That means Pepsi, Coke, Sprite and
Mountain Dew will be replaced by water, flavored waters, juices and
fortified sports drinks. Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat
and other candy bars were junked, replaced by low-fat cookies, crackers,
raisins, dried fruit, pretzels and popcorn.

Teachers will see the changes, too, as soda and candy wereremoved from
their vending machines also.

Lunch menus will also feature healthier alternatives, such as fresh
fruit and fresh vegetables. Beverly Chalmers, principal of Stevens Brook
Elementary School and a member of the committee, said the goal is to
promote awareness of healthier food choices and encourage students to
get more exercise.

"We are concerned about obesity among students," said Chalmers. "For
another 50 cents, you can 'super-size' your french fries or soda. The
fast food and soda ads are heavily marketed to lure young children.
There is a lack of physical activity with the increased use of computers
and popularity of video games. We see the effects at the schools, and we
need to make these changes."

Stevens Brook Elementary will be one of seven schools in the district
promoting healthy food habits. Teachers may no longer give candy as a
reward for a correct answer, or an A on a test. Carrots and other
vegetables or fruit will be handed out instead. Stevens Brook will also
starting a walking program and is considering opening the gym during
lunch so students can walk.

Superintendent Klaus-Peter Voss said the changes are a step in the right
direction. He said he believes schools have the responsibility to
provide healthy foods to students.

"This is our contribution to them," said Voss. "We wanted to put our
money where our mouth is and promote healthy nutrition habits in our
students. Removing the soda and candy in the vending machines was the
first step. We can't control what they eat at home, but we can control
what we put in the vending machines."

The Windham School Department has chosen to carry soda and snacks in its
vending machines. The machines are turned off during school hours and
activated after the buses leave, for students participating in
after-school activities. The department decided to carry candy and soda
to prevent students from walking across Route 202 to a convenience
store. The vendor that stocks the middle and high school machines
includes some healthy snacks in the machines. Chris Howell, assistant
principal of Windham Middle School, said students are choosing water and
sports drinks over soda.

"If you look at the net sales of each machine, you'll see twice as much
water and juices are sold compared to soda," Howell said. "The only food
available to kids is the food they bring from home, or from our hot
lunch program. The lunch ladies give the kids a lot of good, healthy
choices. The food is very good. I eat there."

In Maine, about 725 elementary schools and high schools participate in
the National School Lunch Program. According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, school lunches must meet the dietary guidelines for calorie
goals and fat goals based on age and grade, which is no more than 30
percent total fat, and no more than 10 percent saturated fat.

A 1990 study led by Robert Leonard, associate professor of exercise
physiology at the University of Maine, examined 30,000 Maine students
aged 5 to 17 and discovered that students are more overweight when they
graduate than when they enter the school system.

In Maine, the number of obese children is rising. Obese children will
show early warning signs of Type 2 diabetes and are more likely to
develop high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, respiratory
problems and cancer.

"As a nation, we are feeding our children heart disease and quenching
their thirst with diabetes," said Deborah Heffernan of Bridgton, an
adviser to Changing the Scene and the author of "Arrow Through the
Heart," a story of her own recovery and healing from a heart attack.

"Our mission is to return children to a time when food tasted delicious,
without a lot of sugar, salt, chemicals and bad fats," she said. "We are
trying to change children's tastebuds so they learn what really good
nutrition tastes like.

"It doesn't take a statewide policy to make these changes," said
Heffernan. "There are a bunch of people in sneakers supporting their
schools and making changes within. We need to continue to keep on the
state for an anti-obesity legislation. But neither should the schools
wait for changes to happen."


School Pouring Rights: The Illegality of School Soda Contracts
http://www.schoolpouringrights.com