ARIZONA (By Anne Ryman, Arizona Republic) August 10, 2007 —
Eight Arizona schools are starting the school year by removing soft drinks and
candy from campuses and lowering the fat in their lunch menus.
Health Model, a semester-long pilot through the Arizona Department of
Education, is meant to provide students with healthier choices and allow the
department to study the financial impact of removing junk food.
Over the summer, the pilot schools stocked their snack bars and vending
machines with healthier choices such as granola, sunflower seeds and bottled
water. Cafeteria managers took out high-fat foods, and teachers developed
nutrition lessons.
The pilot comes amid rising concerns over childhood obesity in the United
States and as school districts in San Francisco and Los Angeles have banned
soft drinks and junk food.
Many cash-strapped schools, although supporting the idea in theory, have
resisted change because soft drink and snack sales generate thousands of
dollars every year. The money pays for everything from field trips to football
uniforms, depending on the school.
If the pilot is a success, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Horne hopes other schools will follow the pilot schools' lead.
Many parents are excited about the changes, especially the nutrition
education.
"Some kids don't realize what they eat is really bad for them," said parent
Rhonda Shinn of Phoenix, whose children's school, Madison Park, is involved in
the pilot. Other pilot schools in Phoenix are Monte Vista Elementary and
Mountain Trail Middle School. Schools in Tucson, Yuma and rural areas are also
taking part.
At Stanfield Elementary School, an 800-student rural school west of Casa
Grande, deep-fat frying is out. Children will get stir-fry chicken and veggies
instead of a hamburger smothered in white gravy.
"Once a month, I'll dress up as a grape or a carrot, stand by the buses and
hand out fliers on good nutrition," said Ken Smith, business manager for the
Stanfield Elementary District.
At Monte Vista Elementary in east Phoenix, the cafeteria menu got healthier
and the snack bar got trimmed. Kids now get wheat buns and rolls. They dip
carrots and celery into low-fat ranch dressing.
Students don't appear to notice the changes, cafeteria manager Linda Scarpone
said.
"It's pretty much the same," second-grader Audrey Valencia, 7, said as she ate
chicken nuggets — baked, not fried — in the cafeteria last week. The big
change will come this week when Monte Vista opens its snack bar and no longer
sells candy bars, licorice and sports drinks. Instead, kids can buy granola
bars, sunflower seeds and trail mix.
Monte Vista Principal Kathi Frankel said she is confident the snack bar, which
generated $150 to $200 a week last year, won't lose money.
To help the bottom line, she stocked bottled water and school supplies.
"A lot of kids just want to spend money," she said. "It doesn't have to be on
food."
The Arizona pilot is taking place at a time of increasing scrutiny by parents
and state legislators of the food served on campuses.
Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture restricts food served in school
cafeterias, many schools sell snacks such as potato chips, ice cream and
cookies on the side to raise money. These snacks are not required to meet
federal school lunch standards.
The sales have continued despite a USDA report in 2001 that warned that snack
foods compete with lunch and may contribute to the trend of unhealthful eating
among kids.
The success of the pilot in Arizona hinges on whether schools can still make
healthy profits by serving nutritious snacks. Results are expected to be
available in January 2007.
But even if a school loses money, it shouldn't put a price on children's
health, said Caroline Grannan, a San Francisco parent who was active in
getting junk food taken out of her children's school district.
"How can you possibly say that new uniforms for the football team are more
important than giving a kid Type II diabetes?" Grannan said.
Fifth-grade teacher Cathy Goodman of Phoenix, whose school isn't a pilot, said
exercise and parental influence mean more than taking soft drinks out of
schools.
"It's almost like a gesture, 'Oh, we're going to make kids healthy by getting
rid of pop machines at school.' There's a lot more to it than that," she said.
The Arizona Automatic Merchandising Council, an advocacy group representing 65
companies, supports the pilot. But the group's president, Todd Elliott,
emphasizes that school snacks alone aren't to blame for the growing obesity
problem among kids. A more sedentary lifestyle is the bigger culprit, he said.
"It's a matter of individuals picking the proper food. There are no bad foods.
There are just bad diets," he said.
One of the pilot schools, Mountain Trail Middle School in northeast Phoenix,
is hoping to give kids knowledge so they can make better food choices. The
school added nutrition lessons in its math and science classes.
In math, students will learn how to calculate the percentage of fat in food.
In science, they will study calcium and design a calcium-rich diet.
Mountain Trail teacher Jan Stiles said she wants students to learn, at a
minimum, how to evaluate food nutrition labels.
"You don't always know where the fruits of your labor will end up," she said.
"My hope is a few years down the road, they'll be making wise choices."
