Kids might not like it, but soda, junk food might be leaving local middle schools earlier than expected

By John Loesing Acorn Staff Writer

Several members of the Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) Board of Education say they don’t want to wait until 2004 for the state’s new anti-junk food law to go into effect.

They want soda and candy removed from middle schools by next year, if not sooner.

Senate Bill 19 prohibits the sale of any food and beverage in kindergarten through eighth grade that fails to meet newly specified nutritional standards. Fruit drinks, for example, must contain a higher percentage of fruit juice.

"I don’t think I need the law to tell me that it’s not healthy for the kids," said Terilyn Finders, an LVUSD school boardmember who’s anxious to see water bottles on campus, not soda cans.

"We’re looking at obesity and diabetes, and that’s not okay," Finders said.

But some officials warn that when the junk food sales disappear, so will the money to help pay for student activities, school supplies and other important services. At Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills—which has three vending machines—certain custodial services might have to be curtailed when soda and candy sales are eliminated.

A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas uses the money from its vending machines to buy paper supplies. The sales from A.E. Wright’s nine vending machines amounted to $14,000 last year and $18,000 the year before, according to officials.

SB-19 doesn’t affect high schools. At Calabasas and Agoura, junk food sales remain a primary revenue source for the student council.

"I think it’s sad we got involved in the whole vending machines thing and relying on the money," said Mark Humphrey, a Calabasas student.

The bad effects of campus junk food are being felt mostly at the middle schools, officials say. Candy and soft drink sales already are banned at the elementary level.

When he left elementary to attend middle school, Humphrey said he felt like a child entering the proverbial candy store.

"Just the fact that you don’t have it—then you do—that makes you want to have it even more," he said.

Longtime LVUSD boardmem-ber Judy Jordan has opposed sales of junk food on public school campuses for years.

"I would like it nowhere, but the middle school is the biggest problem," Jordan said. "Children do not have their bones formed at all and we know they’re not getting enough calcium."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, says teenagers in the U.S. now drink twice as much soda as milk, the reverse of 20 years ago.

Soft drinks have been linked to childhood obesity, tooth decay and caffeine dependency, among other dangers.

The carbonated beverage industry disagrees with the findings.

Sherry Falkner, the school district’s director of child nutrition, said she’s begun to explore the sale of alternative products such as crackers and cheese, granola bars, fruit bars and even ice cream, which at least has some dairy benefit.

"We do plan to replace the candies," she said.

A.E. Wright tried converting one machine to the sale of healthy products only. The move, however, didn’t produce any mouth-watering results, Falkner said.

"I make practically no money on that, but it’s there."

Humphrey said it might take time, but students will eventually get accustomed to the new healthier foods.

"If there’s bottled water, that’s what they’re going to drink," he said. "You’re not going to have a total drop-off in revenue."

When law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2004, candy and soda sales will be banned during school hours only, but LVUSD officials plan to eliminate soft drinks at the middle schools altogether, except for staff members.

District officials said they won’t renew any contracts with junk food vendors.

The school board hopes the new state law renews the awareness of health issues in general.

"The vending machines are just one aspect," said boardmember Cindy Iser. "We need to look at the entire spectrum on health education."