| Schools Moving to Increase Health and Wellness |
As part of a recent agreement fostered by the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nation's largest beverage distributors have agreed to stop supplying non-diet sodas in many public schools. This move has been the latest step in the nation's attempt to make their schools a healthier environment for kids. The State of Kansas has also taken steps to increase health and wellness in its public schools. On April 8, 2005, Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, signed a bill to begin promoting wellness and nutrition in Kansas schools. Now, Kansas public schools have until July to submit a school health and wellness policy to the state. Many school administrators and staff are still unsure what direction they will take their policy but many have followed the lead of the Clinton Foundation and begun to change the beverages available to their students. Kelly Horn, director of food services for USD 250, says the district-wide task force has been meeting since the beginning of the year to establish a wellness policy for USD 250. "I think we've come up with something good that I think everyone can live with and work towards but it's going to be an on going process," Horn said. As part of their future changes, Horn says the district is looking to change the pop vending in the high school. "At the high school it is available at all times right now," Horn said. "They can get regular pop or diet pop. But we are looking to do something different." The Pittsburg Community Middle School has already made changes to the beverages available to students. "The middle school has now changed so that the students no longer have access to pop, they have juice or water," Horn said. "We also have milk machines so the student are no longer able to get pop at the middle school. " The Girard school district has also taken steps to enacting a wellness policy for their schools. Mary Twarog, Girard food service director, says a district policy will be ready for approval by the school board during their next regular meeting. If the policy is approved it will be sent on to the state. "It's kind of a work in progress," Twarog said. "I think the state is pretty flexible at this point in time. They just want to see movement made in a direction toward the wellness policy." Part of Girard's policy will also be a change in the items available in school vending machines. "Instead of being just pop we will have juice and bottled water now place in those as well and the amount of pop that will be served out of the will be diminished as well," Twarog said. "Before all the slots, where now maybe only two slots, will be pop and the rest will be filled with juice and water and other types of drinks." Twarog says that despite the addition of water and juice, non-diet pop will still be available, but in smaller amounts. "We've tried it before in the past with putting bottled water in," Twarog said. "Well, the kids wouldn't buy the water, they would buy the pop. They (the pop) will get two slots and that's it, nothing more." The Southeast school district has been looking to eliminate pop distribution in their schools before the wellness policy was required. "Before that law came out we had looked at having a new milk machine and kind of wanting to go to a new juice, milk type situation," Jeff Spangler, Southeast High School assistant principal said. "With this mandate we are hoping there will be some other people that are wanting to contract that out. The two pop machines are what we are wanting to replace with water and Gatorade or a milk machine." Spangler says one major hurdle to changing the beverages distributed on campus is the current pop vending contract held with Pepsi-Cola. "We are married into a relationship that is kind of tough to break." Frontenac High School has made changes to their lunch policy that will also help eliminate non-diet sodas in school. Ted Hessong, assistant principal for Frontenac Jr./Sr. High School, says that beginning next year, students will not be allowed to bring in outside food or beverages during open lunch period. Sack lunches for students staying at school during lunch will be permitted. "We don't want them bringing in what we are trying to eliminate." Frontenac schools have also begun looking at a wellness policy. "Our sight council and board have been discussing a wellness policy and we are beginning to comply so the process has started here to look at getting away from soda's," Hessong said. Randy Rivers, Northeast Superintendent, says he commends the agreement made by beverage companies. "I was really pleased to see what the beverage industry has done, which will make it a lot easier to get to that point," Rivers said. Although the national beverage companies will have until 2009 to pull non-diet sodas from the schools, many Southeast Kansas school districts are taking steps, through new wellness policies, to pull the pop themselves. Other area events include: * Frontenac High School graduation at 11 a.m. on May 20 * Southeast High School graduation at 2 p.m. on May 21 * St. Mary's-Colgan High School graduation at 7 p.m. on May 17 * Frontenac fifth grade DARE graduation and cookout on May 15 * Frontenac Elementary track and field day at 12:30 p.m. on May 19 * Northeast High School graduation at 3 p.m. on May 21 * Weir Attendance Center activity day at 12 p.m on May 15 * Cherokee Attendance Center field day at 12 p.m. on May 19 * McCune Attendance Center field day at 12:30 p.m. on May 19 The Morning Sun, (www.morningsun.net) May 11 , 2006 |
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