« Campaign for middle school success kicks off |
Main
| Florida lawmakers redirect vouchers, add accountability, but constitutional amendment unlikely »
May 4, 2006
UPDATE: The soda debate continues to fizz
BoardBuzz reported yesterday that sodas and other sweetener-added drinks will be pulled from public schools due to new guidelines set forth to help curb childhood obesity. And this has certainly gotten people buzzing.
NSBA's executive director Anne Bryant welcomed the soda ban, and, as quoted in an Associated Press article featured in Forbes Magazine, among others, added, "We're pleased that the parties have decided that there is no need for litigation, because litigation is a terrible waste of time and money."
An editorial in USA Today charges that the "agreement won't make much of a dent in the obesity and nutrition problem" and it "won't cut into all the junk food offered in school cafeterias." However, President Clinton, a driving force in the fight against childhood obesity notes, "You can't single out one cause of this problem. But if an 8-year-old child took in 45 less calories per day, by the time he reached high school, he would weigh 20 pounds less than he would have weighed otherwise."
An article in the Salt Lake Tribune quotes 13-year-old Brittney Pettersson, a student at Centerville Junior High in Salt Lake City, who offers a student perspective. "I don't think they should ban soda because kids really like it, and selling pop gets schools money," Pettersson said. "But it could make kids healthier because they wouldn't be drinking so much sugar." While the Indianapolis Star quoted Avram Rampersaud, 18, a senior at North Central High School in Indianapolis, a school that has already eliminated soda from its vending machines, as saying, "I don't drink very much soda at all. It just doesn't taste good anymore. I drink more Gatorade and water."
The Detroit Free Press notes many varying opinions, including that of Catherine Durocher, food and nutrition supervisor for Clinton Township School District near Detroit, "I really don't believe if it's healthy they won't eat it. I think it's what they're exposed to, and if we expose them to it, they will try it." Shiron Ghebre, a teacher at Central High School in Detroit, "Sugar is just legal crack for kids. They need to drink some clear, fresh water."
One of the key questions raised addresses how schools will recoup the loss of funds that soda machines provide. The Washington Post quoted Sean Bulson, principal at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland, "The money is important, but not as important as kids' health."
Posted May 4, 2006 4:00 PM |
Health & Wellness
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry
BoardBuzz Feed
