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Subscribe to RSSHungry high-school students in Seattle who want a quick snack between classes can buy orange juice, water and granola bars from school vending machines, but little else.
Their choices are limited in fat, sugar, and portion size, making Seattle one of the school districts with the strictest bans on junk food in the country. Approved in 2004, the ban hasn't gone over well with students, who say the absence of less-than-wholesome food has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in vending machine profits over the past seven years.
In 2001, before the Seattle School Board adopted the ban on junk food, high-school associated student body (ASB) governments across the city earned $214,000 in profits from vending machines, according to a district spokeswoman. So far this year they’ve earned only $17,000.
The ASB organizations use the money to support a variety of school activities, athletics and clubs.
"The question is did we go too far?" Michael DeBell, Seattle School Board president, said Monday. "If the students aren’t finding the offerings to their liking, then we're not really meeting that goal of having them choose healthier foods."
DeBell said the school board has been unable to find other ways to fund the student groups. "We are cutting our budget every year," he said. Now the district is looking at relaxing its snack food policy next fall.
Schools across the country are struggling to find ways to clean up their vending machines without losing the revenue they generate.
"Most districts are trying to implement healthy guidelines and are trying to limit fat and portion size," said Diane Pratt-Heavner, director of media relations for the Maryland-based School Nutrition Association.
Schools that don't make the changes on their own will soon be required to under the new Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed by Congress in 2010.
"The law requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop nutrition standards for 'competitive foods' sold during the entire school day," Pratt-Heavner said. Those standards are likely to consider the Institute of Medicine’s recommended competitive food standards, released in 2007, which advocate making fruits, vegetables and whole grains more available. The federal law is expected to go into effect in 2013.
DeBell said any loosening of Seattle's policy would simply allow a greater variety of healthy items, not candy bars, chips and sodas. One possible snack is a popular but healthy ice cream sandwich.
DeBell acknowledged that changes to Seattle’s policy could be upended by the strict federal law. But he said there's still an opportunity to introduce new products to the vending machines in the interim to win over students and boost revenue.
"We have a window," he said. "I like where the federal government is going with nutrition, but then again Congress just made pizza a vegetable."
"We'll see where it all lands."
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Serves the district right for trying to force choices on it's students. Can't wait to hear the parents scream when they read this story or their mil levies go up to cover the costs that the vending machines used to.
It's funny, because usually when I hear people spouting this line about how schools are restricting kids' freedom to choose junk food (the horror!), it's from the same mouths that want to ban contraception for teens, lower the taxes that provide for more programs at public schools, lower teacher pay so much that they can't live on it, impose mandatory prayer in classrooms, and teach non-scientific ideas in science class. Throwing your lot in with those types doesn't help your credibility much.
As a student of a middle school / high school during this ban I can say it was the worst idea ever. My typical day went as follows. Wake up go to Cheveron(gas station) by RedBull or some other soda, go to school, drink said drink during class, have teacher tell me to throw it out, have me not listen, enjoy tasty beverage for remainder of school day.
Bring the vending machines back. Use the profit to buy books and hire better teachers....... WA public schools absolutely suck........
Hey Sam, how do you suppose generations of kids before you made it without energy drinks? Before vending machines?
Eat the right foods for breakfast and lunch and you won't NEED those energy drinks. And some exercise wouldn't hurt, either. I'm not kidding.
I go to 24hr fitness every day. I'm aware of what breakfast is. But let me ask you this, what time did school start when you were a kid? Getting up at 5:30am to be at school by 7, doesn't equate to a great time at breakfast. I didn't enjoy stuffing my face at 6:30 in the morning. I don't know how kids made it before me, but I hope it was with teachers that kept your attention and made class fun. Bottom line, WA state public schools need major help. Anyways, I graduated in 07, so I could really care less at this point.
Back in my day we walked to school, in the snow, 5 miles, up hill, both ways. LMAO
Parents, Civic minded busy bodies, all you neo-communists, back off.
Hmmm.. I dunno about you, but i'm pretty sure its physically impossible to walk uphill both ways.......
Anyways, just stay out of commenting on things you know absolutely nothing about. I love all these people on here saying how kids eat to much junk food and don't exercise enough, blah blah blah. Why don't you enroll your fat ass kids into some sports. Yea we had some fats kids at my high school, hell I was one. I played sports, but I also ate a lot, and it wasn't all junk food.
Computer and video games are making your kids fat more than the sports drinks. But those are fully integrated into society now. Honestly, weather soda is avail or not at school, kids will find a way to get it. I feel sorry for all you who apparently never had sweets growing up......
Hey Pete,
When our government find that PIZZA is a good lunch(and vegetable), and our parents left before we went to school, so during middle was difficult, then what are we supposed to do now?
Oh wait, that's right. depend on ourselves to get food at a gas station because that's all 5$ in change does.
When our society starts serving healthy unfrozen salad, with something tasty to drink, and not milk that .. well.. just doesn't taste right, then I'll take your argument as valid. Until then go look at the normal middle school that has no funding, and say that again.
While working at my local high school one of my duties was to watch the students in the cafeteria in the morning before school started. I watched one young man eat 8 two packs of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and drink a 32 OZ. Gatorade. He ate ALL 16 peanut butter cups! He drank the whole bottle! No wonder he was always a behavior problem. He had the nerve to show up in my office right before lunch wanting to go home because he was sick. I gave him a lecture on blood sugar, told him to have something good for lunch and he had to stay. Needless to say he wasn't happy. The schools in the article could have more healthy choices to stimulate sales.
Sam,
You may have been given a diploma, but you certainly didn't master grammar and spelling...or develop a sense of humor.
Yea, sorry I went to @!$%#ty public schools. Humor? I wasnt joking. Although I did have some teachers like you. More concerned with how things looked on paper rather than giving any useful input to the discussion. So glad the gammar police showed up. Next time put in somthing useful before commenting on somthing menial.
Hey Sam, since when is school supposed to be fun? It's education, not entertainment. And it's not about what you want but what you may actually need to be successful in life. Sadly, as I write this, I do understand the OBE "teaching model" that has been implemented in this country since 1992 is not supposed to ACTUALLY do that for our children.
And you haven't been taught critical thinking to believe that you can't walk uphill both going to school and going home...And the failure here is assuming the person doing so is going up & down the same path. Maybe they had to walk a school mate home which then would take them on a different path that was actually uphill...
Ugh, please start thinking...
This is the definition of selling out.
Pete MT:
You are one sanctimonious SOB You were the nerdy kid who bought carrots to school were'nt you? Kid are learning, this may not take physical energy but they still need protein & carbs to drive a growing brain. IF you have kids you may notice towards the end of a semester they are tired out. Most kids balance out their food intake as the become adults, the ones that don't are the ones that wouldn't anyway.
Taking away cheap crap is not the solution, for many kids these days the more food they can get for less cash the better they can survive.
@Gerrilea - Education SHOULD be fun. Its not hard to teach in a way that gets kids attention. I'm sorry that I apparently don't have as good an education as some of you. But I guarantee it has absolutely nothing to do with junk food and everything to do with lack of funding for public schools.
How school for you growing up has nothing to do with this article. Schools should sell junk food for funding. As stated before, kids will find a way to get junk food whether you like it or not. Profit might as well go to schools than the local gas station.
But your right, I wasn't thinking that any logical person would choose two different routes so that they could walk uphill both ways......
Worried about lost profits...Try selling ... xxxx ... You'll love the profits and, as a side benefit, how compliant and complacent the student population will become..
Selling out the kids? We didn't have junk food dispensers in our schools when I was a student and we did fine. If they need more money they should raise taxes just a little more. Don't make the kids fat and cause their teeth to rot out just for a little more money.
Coca-cola and Mars made a partnership several decades ago which has worked very successfully for them. As tax revenues for schools were falling, these companies would provide all sorts of donations and "profits" to schools if the schools would sell their products to the students. Schools came to rely on this money, and taxpayers forgot that their taxes were subsidized by junk food companies. That's why it's such a hard thing to get out of now.
Yep, the first one is free, after you're hooked we'll raise the price. Is this America or what?
My guess is that the kids just started eating each other.
Now that's a 'hunger games' I don't want to see!
ewwwww!
I have worked at my high school store for almost 4 years. When I started as a freshman, we were making $300 a day. Now we are lucky if we get more than $20. These restrictions on servingsize, sugar, and fat are absurd. Educate parents and children about healthy eating practices instead of restricting what is sold. By doing the latter, shools are just convincing kids to bring in junk food from home.
Wonderful idea, let's have "convenience store free zones!" UGH!!!! This is truly bizarre...how about we stop believing gov't should have any authority in protecting us from ourselves. I know, I know, this concept is truly foreign to you...it's called freedom...
I guess now they'll need to change local ordinances so no convenience stores or fast food restaurants can operate within 5 miles of a school.
If its only about profits then by all means sell porn mags, liquor and pirated DVD's too. Got Cigarettes, pot, cocaine?
You DONT have to supply GARBAGE to the kids just to make the HOLY ALMIGHTY DOLLAR!
Are you unAmerican or what? Of course you must bow to Mamon. It's written in the constitution somewhere, just ask the GOP.
So, when they say they are doing "x, y or z" to protect our children, remember this article...they aren't in the business of protecting anything but the profits of private corporations and to make our children cookie cutter copies of one another so they will be satisfied with working at McDonald's...
I grew up and went to school from 75 to 87.
We had, I think, one pop machine and candy machine in the entire high school. And you weren't allowed to eat during class.
You know what we did? We had snacks OUR PARENTS prepared for us in our lockers and we ate those.
What we're seeing these days is insidious. Evil. The 'big food' companies are almost holding schools hostage: they know the kids want the high fructose corn syrup/fat/salt filled snacks and will pay for them, they know the parents don't have time or care enough to give the kids healthy meals and snacks, and they know the schools are strapped for cash.
When parents whine and complain about taxes for schools, can they not see that they are paying a 'tax' indirectly through their children's purchase of junk food?
How much do they shell out so junior can have some corn syrup every week? $20?
What if their taxes went up $20 a week? They'd be up in arms voting people out of office, that's what!
Idiots all. Enjoy your young adult diabetes; it's all for profit and shareholder value!
Yep, these soft Americans can't exercise their way out of a wet paper bag. And it's all the schools fault. NOT!
I love the oldsters that have committed their sins and are now the ipitomy of virtue. LMAO
It might not be the schools fault per say, but when parents absolutely fail in educating their children on how to eat healthy foods and exercise the schools have got to step in at some point and do it for them. We're seeing epidemic obesity in this country and if kids don't learn to balance their eating from their parents where will they learn it from? IMO it should be the schools to take on this responsibility and limit the junk food gets kid.
Give it up DeBell. They are probably leaving school and heading right to 7-11 or whatever you have up there. If you need the money, just let the kids buy it there...because they're going to buy it anyway.
There is a companion story that discusses how we have become a nation of sad, fat people because of the processed junk we eat. All the processing removes the essential nutrients that our brains and bodies need to function normally.
To Seattle Public School District: Don't cave to the corporate evil empire. Off MORE healthy snacks to the students.
Continue to offer those kids tastless health food and watch the $17k go down to $2k. ROFL
It's all about the money!!! With Microsoft and Boeing, to name a couple of MEGA corporations, with deep pockets you'd think that there would be a way they could help. Heaven forbid that we say NO to young students. Hell, if we do that we won't be loved by them. Junk food is just that....JUNK. The stuff that kids probably eat 2-3 meals a day if they have that many meals. These students are so used to eating STUFF out of cans and boxes at home that that is their way of life. Let them have what they want.....they can pay for it in later years. Sad that the school system is so stymied they can't solve this problem. Just like at home....if there is only one or two things in the refrigerator, that's what they get. Same with the vending machines. Let the kids.....DEAL WITH IT.!!!!!
That's what the kids have been doing. Dealing with it. Outsmarting those negative nabobs of communistic practises. Smart kids. A little fat, yes, but smart none the less.
If these kids aren't smart enough to stop at 7-11 on their way to school they deserve to eat granola and alphalpha sprouts. Apparently a lot of them have figured it out.
This reminds me of when I lived in Australian and my kids went to primary school there. I could not believe the junk that they were selling the kids at lunch - all kinds of candy and soft drinks. It was shocking. When I suggested that it might be better for the kids not to sell that garbage to them, I was told that the school needed the money!
All this article says is the children did not consume, Hello!! That makes them healthy. Put a Spinach and Broccoli machine in the hallway and they avoid pure body destroying junk. This isn't rocket science except to government regulators, they will need millions and millions to figure out this simple equation. The presence of health food drives them away from processed. Take away the soda and watch them drink water.
Sorry, the radio here in the pacific northwest reported that they are on open campuses and walk across the street and get their junk food fix.
Bottom line is, it's not the schools job to police what the kids do and do not eat. We are supposed to live in a country that is free, a country where people can eat and drink whatever they want. State and government need to stop trying to TELL people what they can and can not consume, period. When I was in middle/high school I didn't spend a lot at the vending machines but come lunch time it was nice to know that if I wanted a soda I had the option to get one. It's time to end this Nazi gestapo control bull crap.
Is this country great or what? Freedom of choice triumphs again and communist tactics suffer from capitalistic pressure.
Gotta love America!
Yes, for sure, sell children heroin if that increases school profits. You know they want it. You know they'll love it. You know it will kill them, but we're overpopulated. The good thing about heroin is it kills soon, whereas horrible food kills slowly and the public gets stuck with the Medicare bill. But, gosh, we do have to give kids whatever makes them happy NOW, don't we?
Really?! Did you even understand the article? Students are asking that the district move to the state/federal nutrition guidelines so they can offer MORE healthy foods in the hopes that students would buy from the student store and vending machines if there were more choices that they liked. There are very few things that meet Seattle's guidelines. Students have worked hard to write a proposal that is based on common sense, honors ADULTS's need to control what students eat on campus and helps raise desperately needed funds.
It's not abotu JUNK FOOD! It amuses me that this issue hit the national news- do you know if your school district sells junk food? Becuase a lot still do. Most districts surrounding Seattle do. They have money to pay for freshman athletic teams (in Seattle we are having difficulty doing that...), supporting their extra-curricular activities wihtout raising fees.
How hypocrictical of us adults to attack students for wanting this change, the school board for listening to their students (which all board should be doing) and responding intelligently to the student's proposals If Congress can count tomato PASTE as a vegetable in school lunches I think we are beyond help. Lobbyists won that round and the students lost- write your congress person about school lunches before you attack vending machines (which are SNACK items- not meal items) and student stores.
Bravo Seattle Students for participating in your education and not being passive to isssues that directly affect your quality of education. ASB's support more than athletics- newspaper, yearbook, clubs, drama, music programs, etc.....
Why do they need vending machines in schools at all? Seems to me it's not so much a matter of what kids eat as it is that they need to stuff something in their gaping maws all day long. I ate lunch at school. That's it. No snacks. We had water fountains we could hit between classes.
No wonder kids are fat.
But, now we see what's really important. I'm just glad they finally came clean and admitted that the money from the vending machines is really what it's all about. Schools are just another profit center - a market base for someone to exploit for a dollar. Just like all the fund-raiser crap they're constantly selling. Kids and parents sell all this junk that nobody really wants, the school gets a small cut, and some outside vendor rakes in a truckload of cash.
Amen! When I was a kid in elementary school, I never experienced such a thing as vending machines. Your parents sent you to school with a nutritious breakfast and you had a filling, healthy lunch consisting of protein, vegetables, and a limited amount of carbs. As you mentioned, there were water fountains throughout the school. When I came to this country to complete middle school and high school though, I saw, for the first time ever, all these vending machines selling soda, chips, pastries, and even ice cream, all over the school. Since I never grew up buying from the vending machine, I never felt the urge to suddenly start doing so. My mom packed me snacks such as raisins, cashews, granola bars, or dried apricots in case my lunch was not filling enough, and I had no problem with that. Even to this day, if I am in the office and feel hungry, I reach for my tupperware full of raisins, peanuts, and cashews to munch on, rather than pastries or chips like the rest of my co-workers. I guess if you have raised a spoiled child to rely on junk food for snacks it may be harder to "wean them" off from it and teach them to enjoy healthy food. Not all healthy food is flavorless and bland as has been suggested by others on here.
I understand the need to limit sugar, fats, etc. I also understand that many parents these days can't/ don't provide their kids with the proper foods. But having raised a teenage son portion control was something that I did not nor want to do. My son ate a LOT. He ate all the time. Now we always had good meals but it was hard to keep him fed. And when he graduated and joined the Marines he was 1 pound over the minimum to join. He was so skinny the Marines put him on a high fat diet and he actually gained weight in boot.
Feeding kids correctly is important but I do disagree with the schools doing away with recess and phys Ed. Just eating right does not make you healthy. They need exercise and unfortunately it's not as easy for today's kids to go out and 'play' after school. They are in some sort of custodial aftercare (meaning just sit there and be quiet until its time to go home) or they live in an area where going out is just not safe. Schools are their last resort for good exercise.
Anyway, I think our schools are going about this in the wrong way.
I think they need to start teaching the kids the kind of things I learned when I was in school. Have you seen the school books lately? Garbage about the new world order in elementary school!? Teaching kids that they have to do whatever the government says if that means disobeying their parents!? WTF is up with that? These things really are being taught in schools now and its very disturbing to say the least.
"has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars"
And that's all that matters.
Kids aren't able to make wise decisions for themselves. This is the reason there are age limits in life. A teen brain doesn't care about fat, calories or cholesterol. They just want something to munch on. Do away with the vending machines leaves no room for errors. Remove the problem and the problem is solved. Oh wait....that would mean lower revenue for the vending machine companies and less kickback incentives for the school, right? Just like everything else, a school is a business out to make money....the students' best interests be damned. Well, if they're looking to make money, why stop at junk food? Include energy drinks, condoms and chewing tobacco as well. That will ensure even MORE revenue from your spitting, STD-infested ADD students.
Oh the food police. Why not make gym, conditioning MANDATORY for all these fat kids? The only part of so many kids' anatomy that is in tip-top shape are their thumb muscles from marathon hours of Xbox.
Hey parents...kick your kids outside for a couple hours after school. Schools...stop illegalizing stuff like "dodge ball" because your're afraid someone might catch a ball in the face. WHAaaaaaaa.
Kids learn quickly that if they can't buy what they want from school vending machines, they'll buy it elsewhere, stuff it in their backpacks, and bring it into school that way. The schools lose out on the sales, but the kids still get the food and drinks they like.
If the kids are just buying the candy and soda at the local deli, then the goals of the policy fails. Then the kids get the junk food and the school loses out. Removing machine all together does nothing in the long run.
I'm sure there are enough snacks and beverages that are not perfect, but still good. Stuff like this.
SNACKS:
Sun Chips
Baked Potato Chips
Granola Bars
York Peppermint Pattie [~150 calories and 2.5g fat]
Chex Mix
Rice Krispie Bars
Other Cereal Bars
Pretzels
Twizzlers
Nabisco [or other] "100 Calorie" Packs
Junior Mints
DRINKS:
Teas
V8-fusions
Flavored Waters
Exactly! These vending machines just need more variety. Giving kids only 1 or 2 options may not be enticing enough. I like your vending machine suggestions, though.