Nutrition new key for snacks at school

By Emily Richmond

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

High-fat snacks, candy and carbonated beverages will no longer be sold to students at Clark County School District campuses, School Board members decided Thursday.

Beginning in August, the contents of vending machines, student stores and campus fund-raisers will have to pass a nutritional litmus test. Students will still be allowed to bring food items from home.

The only public opposition to the ban came from a vending machine company representative and lobbyists for beverage manufacturers and suppliers.

School Board member Sheila Moulton tried unsuccessfully for an amendment to the new regulation, which would have allowed diet, caffeine-free soda to be sold at the high schools.

"We want our students to make good choices and expect them to exercise their judgement," Moulton said.

Moulton's amendment was vigorously opposed by School Board member Denise Brodsky, who spearheaded the new nutritional requirements. Studies have shown that children and young adults who drink carbonated beverages of any kind have a decreased calcium intake, which puts them at risk for future injuries and disease, Brodsky said.

The federally subsidized school lunch and breakfast program has already prohibited participating schools from having soda in serving areas, Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction, told the School Board. Research on the effects of artificial sweeteners have also suggested links to certain types of cancers, Orci said.

"I urge you to accept this regulation as written," Orci said. "Watering this down would be a mistake."

After Moulton's amendment failed the original regulation passed on a 6-0 vote, with School Board Vice President Larry Mason absent.

The School Board also approved a new ban on tobacco products for all employees, as well as at any district-sponsored activity.

The tobacco policy:

The food policy states: