Monday, February 1, 2010
Bites / CSA / News Nutrition Action Stirring in Public Schools
Posted by Nicki Wood on Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 8:09 AM
It can be pretty dismaying for parents to see what kids eat at school. The rotating selection of sweetened, flavored milks (tired of chocolate? Try the cotton candy flavor!), the pizza and fried foods, and the stream of sodas and cookies brought for birthdays and other special occasions challenge even "good eaters."
Several schools, most notably the Hillsboro cluster, are forming nutrition action committees to improve selections at PTO events, encourage nutrition education, promote non-food rewards in class and other steps towards improved in-school nutrition.
Individual efforts at Julia Green (a healthy snack cart), Glendale, Percy Priest and JT Moore include fitness clubs, partnering with CSAs (community-supported agriculture, as in buying shares of a farm's crops) and starting school gardens.
On May 1, the Hillsboro Cluster will hold its first cluster-wide event focusing on overall wellness with special emphasis on nutrition and is looking for committee members to help with planning the event. The first committee meeting is scheduled for 10-11:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 5, at 10am at Carter Lawrence School (in the community room). If you are interested, contact Bites and we'll connect you with organizers.
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I've mentioned it before, so apologies in advance for redundancy, but it is mystifying to me how Metro can own so many open, arable acres on these things called playgrounds in so many neighborhoods that have no fresh produce options, and not come up with a local farm program. They can use the food in the school's own lunches, and they can sell it for fundraising or just give it away to the students to ensure nutritional stuff is happening. Even where the grocery stores are lacking, schools seem to be present.
I know, nothing about this is unique to Metro. But let's pretend it is and solve it now rather than waiting for some other locale to be brilliant instead.
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