Classroom parties at Clarendon Elementary will never be the same following new rules handed down by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs that took effect August 1, 2003.
In an effort to combat what Combs calls “an obesity epidemic,” the Texas Department of Agriculture has amended its policies on Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNVs). But the new rules have some local people scratching their heads, and Superintendent Monty Hysinger says it seems like Combs just has her own mission.
“There is no way the quantity (of FMNVs) they get here is causing an obesity epidemic,” Hysinger said.
Nevertheless, new state policy now prohibits access to carbonated beverages, certain candy and chewing gum by elementary school children at any time during the school day and to junior high school students during meal periods. In addition, junior high schools must not serve or provide access to carbonated beverages larger than 12 ounces at any time during the school day.
“You already couldn’t serve these things at lunch,” Hysinger said, “but now you can’t bring them to parties either.”
Parents can no longer bring such items as soft drinks, lollipops, rock candies, cough drops, jelly beans, candy-coated popcorn, gum drops, or bubblegum to classroom parties.
“Our cafeteria serves decent meals that follow nutritional guidelines,” Hysinger said. “But we used to give Dairy Queen Blizzards for meeting reading goals; now we can’t. We used to have pizza parties with Cokes. Now we can probably have the pizzas but no Cokes.”
The new rules do not apply to sack lunches, but kids will prohibited from sharing any FMNVs with their classmates.
Combs department says an increasing consumption of junk food and carbonated beverages are to blame for increasing obesity and Type II diabetes in American school children, but local school and health officials say there is no such epidemic in Donley County and that nutritional habits must go beyond the school door.
“We don’t have any cases of Type II diabetes,” said CISD Nurse Tiffany Shadle. “We do have maybe 25 to 30 percent of the kids overweight.”
Shadle said she thinks the new rules are good in that teachers should give healthier rewards than M&Ms and soft drinks, but she also thinks that parents should be able to bring what they want to school parties and that behavioral changes need to be made at home.
“The kids don’t do anything except just go home and watch TV,” she said. “People also are eating out a lot more than they used to.”
Dr. John Howard of Clarendon Family Medical Center says the local community doesn’t fit the national pattern in this case.
“Obesity in America is a huge problem, and I’m concerned about it,” Howard said, “But in this respect, Donley County is not a reflection of the nation as a whole.”
Howard said there are probably 25 percent of kids overweight but that is far different from being obese, which is defined by having a Body Mass Index greater than 30. There are not a lot of local kids with Type II diabetes, he said, but there are a lot of adults.
“Part of it [Type II diabetes] is genetic predisposition – it’s more common in Hispanics, for example – and it’s exacerbated by obesity.”
Howard said he thinks it’s good to set goals and to educate children about nutrition and good health. But he also said school is only six hours out of the day.
“The problem is people aren’t exercising; they’re watching TV and playing Nintendo and are less active,” Howard said. “The real question is this: ‘Is this the kind of thing government can or should be doing?’ I think it is probably overreaching.”
Combs’ authority in dictating what foods can be served in school came in July, when the USDA Child Nutrition Programs, formerly located at the Texas Education Agency, moved to TDA, and USDA designated TDA as the administering agency for the programs. The federal programs provide funding and nutritional guidelines and services for public schools in Texas.
If a violation is found, TDA will disallow all federal meal reimbursements for the day and require the school to reimburse the foodservice account for any lost revenue.
“If we don’t follow this, they could stop funding our [food] program,” Hysinger said, “and we’ve got 60 percent of kids on free and reduced lunches.”
The superintendent said CISD has benefited from its vending relationship with Coca-Cola, through donations of “three or four scoreboards” valued at an estimated $5,000 each, and additionally the school gets money off its own vending machines.
“We get $5,000 to $6,000 per year off vending machines, and that all goes right back to things for the kids.”
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