POLAND – When the Poland Regional High School booster club needs to raise money for the drama club, school newspaper or a sports team, it usually turns to food.
Junk food.
Sure, water and sports drinks sell during school events, but soda and chocolate bars make the most money. One taffy-like candy is so popular that the concession stand can’t keep it in stock.
But soon booster clubs, school stores and even parent-teacher groups may have to find a new way to make money.
The state is looking at banning all junk food sales from school property. And even the profits from healthy foods would have to benefit the school lunch program, not sports or field trips.
“It’ll kill us,” said Nancy Gilpatrick, president of the Poland high school’s booster club.
Cash-strapped schools use food profits for sports and other extracurricular activities.
The proposed Maine Department of Education rule would prohibit the sale of foods with “minimal nutritious value” on school grounds, regardless of whether school is in session.
That means certain foods, including all soda and candy, would be banned from vending machines, school stores and fund-raisers. Bake sales would be banned unless organizers could show their foods met federal nutrition guidelines.
Fighting obesity
The Education Department began looking at ways to expel unhealthy food more than a year ago. At that time, only vending machines were under consideration. But after taking recommendations from various groups, including the Commission to Study Public Health, state education officials decided to go with a deeper policy change in an effort to battle Maine’s obesity problem.
The department will hold a public hearing on the proposal next Friday. It does not need legislative approval to make the rule change.
Some school officials say they have mixed feelings about the proposal.
Michael Sanborn, director of school nutrition for Lewiston schools, spent years making sure his vending machines carry only water, milk, 100 percent fruit juice drinks and healthy snacks, even though he knows he could make more by selling soda. He’s revamped the cafeteria menu and has worked with fund-raising groups to get them to sell T-shirts instead of candy bars
But booster clubs and other groups still on rely food sales for some money, he said. He’s afraid the proposal will cause unnecessary harm, especially to concession stands set up during sporting events and small bake sales led by boosters.
“It’s very difficult to analyze the nutritional content of a brownie or cookie coming from home,” he said.
Exemptions
An amendment to the proposal would give local school boards the power to allow exemptions. Boards could allow junk food to be sold to teachers and to the public during community events, and it could allow food profits to benefit something other than the school lunch program.
The Lewiston School Department has formed a committee to look at all school food and exercise issues. If the Maine Education Department goes through with the new rule, Sanborn is hopeful that Lewiston will allow some junk food sales, with the profits going to the groups that need the money.
“We try to look at a balanced approach,” he said.
In Poland, Booster Club President Gilpatrick said she has mixed feelings, too. As a mother of three boys, she tries to limit the junk food that comes into her home. But she also knows that soda and candy sales help to keep Poland’s extracurricular activities afloat.
If the department moves forward with its proposal, Gilpatrick hopes the school board will provide some exemptions.
If it doesn’t, she said, she expects that sports fans will bypass her concession stand during Poland games and head straight for the convenience store down the street.
“I really don’t think that this rule will stop people from eating junk food,” she said. “If they think it will, they’re insane.”
BREAKOUT>>
A public hearing on changes to rules on junk food in schools will be held from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, at the Cross Office Building in Augusta.
Written comments may be mailed to Judith Malcolm, education policy director, Maine Department of Education, 23 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0023. Comments may also be faxed to 624-6841 or e-mailed to [email protected].
Written comments must be received by 5 p.m. March 1.
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