‘Healthier balance’ sought

Emily Richmond and Jennifer Knight

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

In an acknowledgment of the growing problem of obesity in children and teens, Clark County School District officials said Monday they plan to set new limits on the contents of student stores and vending machines.

Currently principals decide what fare can, and cannot, be sold on campus. Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said he has a committee working on a new policy that should be completed by spring and take effect with the start of the 2004-05 academic year.

"Our goal is to strike a healthier balance," Garcia said. "We're not talking about getting rid of the (vending) machines altogether because frankly our schools need the money they bring in. But we are looking at ways of giving students better choices."

Pilot studies at several schools have shown that sales remain high when students are offered healthier alternatives such as granola bars and bottled water, Garcia said.

The superintendent's comments came at a special meeting where a team of parents, district staff and legislators urged the Clark County School Board to make improving student nutrition a priority.

Statistics on obesity in students statewide were scarce, but national studies show the rate of overweight children has doubled since 1980, officials said. Overweight and obese children are at greater risk for lifelong health problems such as Type II diabetes and heart disease and miss four times as much school each year than their peers who are at healthy weights, state Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, and chairwoman of a statewide committee on obesity told the School Board.

Las Vegas was ranked No. 18 in a recent survey of the nation's "fattest cities," Wiener noted.

"We need to change how, and how much, (students) eat and how little they participate in physical activities," Wiener said. "If they continue the way they are, they cannot perform in school or in life."

State Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said the school district needs to be consistent in its message to students.

"You can't have a teacher writing about good nutrition on the blackboard and then send the students out into hallways lined with vending machines full of unhealthy food," Cegavske said.

When home economics classes were phased out of the district's curriculum schools lost an opportunity to teach students about good eating habits and basic nutrition, Cegavske said. It would be difficult to bring those classes back given the budget constraints both at the local and state level, Cegavske said.

While there are students in Clark County consuming too much high-fat, sugary foods, drinks and snacks, there are also children who come to school hungry, said Barbara Paulson, a registered dietician and member of the nonprofit Action for Healthy Kids. When schools provide all students with a nutritious breakfast studies show test scores, behavior and overall student achievement improve, Paulson said.

And while the school district has made strides to offer healthier lunches, the changes won't help unless students actually eat the meals, Paulson said.

Lummis Elementary School in northwest Las Vegas is taking part in a "Recess First" pilot study in which students go to the playground before eating lunch -- a reversal of the usual district schedule. Since the study began seven weeks ago there has been less food thrown away and student behavior both in the lunchroom and in the afternoon classes has improved, Paulson said.

"They run off the extra energy on the playground and then eat," Paulson said.

Putting lunch after the playground activity makes sense, said Jen Keller, a dietician and researcher for the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit organization that promotes vegetarian and vegan diets.

"When you exercise before you eat your metabolism is increased and you're digesting at a better rate," said Keller, whose organization gave Clark County schools a failing grade in August for its lunchroom menus.

Keller praised the district for eliminating fruit punch (which is empty sugary calories) and reducing the amount of fried food -- factors that could help boost the district's grade on next year's report card.

Barbara Leslie, coordinator of food services for the district, told the board strong steps have already been taken that will hopefully yield results. Fruit punch has been eliminated as an option from middle school cafeteria menus -- leaving just milk or water as choices -- and middle schools are allowed to fry food only one day a week, Leslie explained.

The food services division is also working with principals to start "Breakfast in the Classroom" programs at schools where 80 percent or more of the students qualify for federally funded free and reduced-price meals, Leslie said. Four high schools -- Desert Pines, Western, Valley and Rancho -- are taking part in a pilot program offering breakfast and lunch to students at reduced cost, Leslie said.

While the school district should play an active role in helping students make healthy food choices the importance of parents and families in the process shouldn't be understated, said School Board member Sheila Moulton.

"We're raising the issue, as we should, but there has to be parental involvement for this to work," Moulton said.

For as much as the district has touted the good effects of its new policy at Lummis Elementary School, word hasn't gotten out to every parent.

"I hadn't heard of a schedule change," said Martha Vargas, the mother of a first grader who attends Lummis. "I know my daughter gets home really, really hungry."

Lummis Principal Wendy Roselinsky said she is pleased with the results of the pilot study, which is starting its second month. The school has also closed the snack bar during the lunch hours to younger students to encourage them to eat the nutritious meals provided, Roselinsky said.

The school may also change what is sold in the student store and snack bar to put a better emphasis on healthy foods, she said.

"If you don't try, you don't know," Roselinsky said. "And I think we have to try."

Marcia D'Acunto, whose daughter Alexa is a fourth grader at Lummis, said she is happy to see the district is thinking about ways to help kids eat healthy and would agree with a ban on vending machines at elementary schools.

"I used to work at the snack shack and I used to tell them you should get healthier foods," Marcia D'Acunto said. "I think they are doing that now but vending machines -- I don't think that's a good idea at all."

In the middle and high schools, however, enforcing good eating habits can be much more difficult.

Green Valley High School senior Heather Burke said her only source of lunch is from vending machines.

"I have M&Ms every day," Burke said. "I also have potato chips. I think I'm gaining weight."

Burke's friend Hannah Sayers, a freshman, said the vending machines aren't the only culprit when it comes to bad eating habits.

"No matter what, even if you want to get rid of the vending machines you'll still have junk food," Sayers said. "They just sell other food here like pizza, tacos and other junk food."

For some students at Cannon Middle School, those rows of vending machines lined up in the cafeteria can be irresistible.

Seventh grader Travis Metcalfe said sometimes buying a caffeinated soda is the only way he can get through his day.

"It keeps you awake through the rest of the period," Metcalfe said.

Jon Palomata, also in seventh grade, said he didn't like the idea of removing the machines.

"That's not right. Kids will get mad 'cause they can't get what they want," said Palomata, who admitted to using his lunch money sometimes to buy junk food.

Those against keeping the machines in school, however, must realize that if kids can't get it there, there's always the student store, students said.

"It doesn't matter if they take them away because we can still get the candy at the snack store," said Marissa Cox, who is in sixth grade.

Sixth grader Taylor Royce agreed.

"I usually buy a candy bar twice a week, but I get it from the student store," Royce said. "Sometimes you've just gotta have a candy bar."

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