Editorial: Junk foods’ absence

Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004 | 8:47 a.m.

This summer the Clark County School Board banned junk food from being sold at public schools. We supported the ban and we hope that each school makes sure it's strictly enforced. On Monday, the first day of the new school year, Valley High School Principal Ron Montoya checked to see how the policy was being implemented and was surprised to see a row of Twinkies in a vending machine. Twinkies had somehow made it onto a preliminary list of approved food items and hadn't been removed from the final list until last week, apparently too late before they found their way into the vending machine.

There are some items that many people wouldn't think of as a healthy snack -- such as Pop Tarts -- that will be allowed in vending machines because their content of fat and sugar is low enough to be deemed acceptable by the school district. While we might quibble with allowing Pop Tarts to be sold, it shouldn't minimize the progress being made. We believe that vending machines filled with bottled water, natural snacks and baked potato chips, which are healthier than the regular kind, is an excellent start. Children in this nation increasingly are becoming obese, due mainly to poor diets and a lack of exercise. (We'd like to see schools place a greater emphasis on physical education, too, but that's an editorial for another day.)

The ban won't stop all kids from buying junk food at convenience stores and bringing it onto campus, or from eating it at home. But the point is that it's encouraging that public schools believe they shouldn't contribute to an unhealthy diet, which can hurt academic performance. We'd even be happier still if more parents took seriously what really is their responsibility, which is making sure that their children eat healthy both at home and at school.