Valley schools won’t ban vending machines

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2002 | 11:36 a.m.

Clark County School District officials have studied campus vending machines in the past year, but have no plans to ban the machines.

Edward Goldman, superintendent of the district's southeast region, said this morning he recognizes students are a "captive audience" when it comes to campus vending.

"We have to strike the balance between what's healthy and what the kids will actually buy," Goldman said. "Certainly, I'd rather see them drinking juice or water over soda, but that's about changing their attitudes toward nutrition, not just the contents of the machines."

Officials say individual campuses rely heavily on vending machine sales to pay for everything from extracurricular activities to field trips to special assemblies.

The district has cut more than $80 million from its annual budget of $1.2 billion in the past three years, leaving little funds for extras, Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations, said.

The number of vending machines allowed on each campus was limited for the first time this fall, but the motivation was soaring energy costs, not nutritional concerns.

While each school is allowed to keep its vending machine and school store profits, the district pays the electric bill for the devices. Powering the more than 4,000 machines costs the district millions of dollars a year, Richard Ennes, business manager of the operations unit, said.

When classes began Monday at the district's 277 schools, display lights had been disconnected in all soda machines.

The district is also moving toward timers that will automatically shut off the machines during the evenings, weekends and school vacations.

The district has made strides toward offering more nutritious snacks and even lowering the prices on items such as granola bars and fruit, Ennes said.

The majority of the district's vending machines are concentrated at the 33 high school campuses. With the district's new closed-campus rule in effect, students are no longer allowed to leave during the day for meal breaks and must rely on the cafeteria, school stores and vending machines.