Healthy Schools, Great Schools: Nutrition
Fixing the health problems in this country won't happen overnight. It also doesn't have just one cause or just one solution. Great schools make sure that their students have ample opportunities for physical activities throughout the day, and that they take advantage of these opportunities.
The other large part of the health equation is diet. Children spend as much time at school as they do with their parents (maybe more). Many students get at least one (maybe two) meals plus snacks at school instead of bringing them from home.
With all this access to students, it falls to schools to teach students what foods are healthy for them and will ensure them good health and a safe weight for years to come, and to make these foods available. They also need to give those students the knowledge they need to make good decisions.
School Food
Breakfast
Most students have breakfast before they get to school. What form this takes can vary wildly from student to student: some enjoy a full sit-down breakfast with their families, others find themselves wolfing down a prepackaged breakfast bar on the bus.
Great schools provide great food. In settings where students arrive at school early enough to avail themselves of school cafeteria facilities, quality institutions make sure that healthy foods such as fruit are available and that empty calories like sugar-sweetened drinks are kept to a minimum.
Lunch
Most students buy all or part of their lunch at school. Students from lower socioeconomic brackets frequently have access to free or reduced price meals. Other students choose school lunch because it is more convenient than bringing it from home, or because they can get items that they wouldn't otherwise have access to (hot food, etc.).
There has been a shift lately from processed, mass-produced, prepackaged “convenience” foods towards fresher, local, and rotating menu items, that change frequently and provide students with more diverse and nutritious options. Green and multicolored vegetables have taken center stage.
Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” initiative has helped bring a national spotlight to this issue. "Let's Move" combines a more healthful approach to eating with a greater emphasis on regular daily physical activity. Great schools understand that these two things work together to provide a healthy, mentally and physically stimulating environment for their students.
Vending Machines
Vending machines are a huge issue in modern education. Parents and educators alike ask if the “captive audience” of a school, especially one filled with young children (like a middle school) armed with pocket money from their parents, is a fair business environment to fill with brand name food-items that already flood the media outside of school hours with endless, tantalizing advertisements.
Many schools enter into lucrative contracts with the soft drink and food-item companies that install the vending machines in their schools. The argument is that companies have the right to sell wherever they can and that the students are benefiting from additional money that can help essential school programs operate.
However, these companies have sales expectations for their machines, and if these numbers are not met, can pull funding, defeating the purpose. In addition, the products sold (sugar-sweetened drinks, processed snack foods: chips, cakes, etc.) are rarely (if ever) as healthy as foods prepared in the school (fresh or cooked vegetables, meat options, etc.).
Young students are impressionable and advertisements are everywhere. While some decry the “nanny state” and many argue that teaching moderation and good nutrition are the responsibility of the parents, which side should the schools be on? Corporations or families?
If you want to keep your school a great school and a healthy school, get involved in regular school board meetings. Make sure that you get into the cafeteria and other student common areas and see what kinds of food offerings are available for your child. While there is no substitute for talking with him or her about the kind of diet you think is healthiest, you have a right to know what is being sold in your child's school, and if you want to try to change it, then you can advocate for that.