Creating a Comprehensive District Nutrition Policy Healthy Eating Bright Idea (Submitted on March 18, 2004)
What did they want to do? Controversy over a district-wide beverage contract led the school district to develop a comprehensive nutrition policy with input from community members and district staff. The policy eliminated the sale of soda and unhealthy snack foods and also addressed issues like hunger and cultural diversity.
Who took action? Parents, community leaders, and local health advocates
Where did this happen? Oakland Unified School District - school
Demographics
Sixth largest school district in California, with more than 53,000 students enrolled
51% of students qualify for free or reduced price meals
Why did they want to do it? Prevent the signing of a district-wide beverage contract and adopt a comprehenisve nutrition policy.
Background The school district's business services deputy superintendent had introduced the concept of consolidating beverage sales at the district level as a way to have more control and generate more revenue for the district. At the time, it was unclear how many vending machines were on school campuses, who owned these machines, and what revenue they generated.
How did they accomplish their goal? 1. A small but vocal group of parents, community leaders and local health advocates raised concerns about how soda sales on campus were contributing to poor student health, including childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay.
2. Community outcry led to the creation of an official task force, the Nutrition Advisory Board (NAB), which included school board members, health specialists, community activists and educators.
3. After more than a year of public discussion, meetings and intensive research by the NAB, the school board decided to reject Pepsi’s $3.2 million offer.
4. The board instead approved a comprehensive nutrition policy that banned the sale of carbonated soft drinks (including soda) and high-sugar beverages, candy and “similar products” in cafeterias, in vending machines, at athletic events and for on-site school fund-raisers.
What were their results? The nutrition policy adopted by the board contains six goals and principles: (1) insure that no OUSD student goes hungry; (2) improve the nutritional quality of all food served to OUSD students; (3) serve enjoyable foods from diverse cultures; (4) improve the quality of food service jobs; (5) integrate nutrition into the district’s education program; and (6) establish a Nutrition Advisory Board.
What are their future plans? The district is beginning to add healthier foods to the a la carte program and will continue to identify vendors that offer healthier options. The first step was to eliminate carbonated beverages and reduce portion sizes of products such as chips. Then increase healthy foods offered as a la carte foods to include fruit, shaker salads, 1 percent flavored milk and drinks with 50 percent or more juice. The district will seek student input into the types of foods to serve to ensure they are popular and sell.
For More Information Contact Amy Lins Oakland Unified School District 1025 Second Ave. Oakland, CA 94606 United States (510) 879-8340
[email protected] http://www.ousd.k12.ca.us
