Newsletter: June 2006

GEI Nutrition in the Schools Newsletter #5

June 2006

The Nutrition in the Schools Network Newsletter provides information on events, activities, and resources that help us to educate and advocate for healthy, nutritional food and beverages in schools.

Table of Contents

1. Next Meeting
2. NISN Projects
3. Green Earth Fair Table & Presentation
4. Update on Local School Wellness Policies
5. Update on New Rules (rejected) for Foods/Beverages in Illinois
6. Online Resources

Note: this newsletter contains a number of excellent resources, so please read through to the end!

1. NEXT MEETING

We will NOT have a general meeting in July.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, August 16, 7:30 pm, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 815 S. Washington, Naperville, just south of Edwards Hospital.  Enter at the light for the hospital; at the stop sign, turn left into the Church parking lot; park around the back (side farthest from Washington); enter door #3; we’ll be in the second room on the left.

On September 20, our guest will be Sharon Nichols, food service director in Valley View School District (Bolingbrook, Romeoville). 

Everyone is welcome to attend our meetings, and if it is your first meeting, we'll spend time getting to know you, your school district, and your interests.

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2. NISN PROJECTS

NISN has two exciting projects underway:

(1) Speakers Bureau – we hope to have our Speakers Bureau ready for action by September.  We will have a list of individuals willing to speak on topics that support the NISN mission.  We will have a form on our website, or available in a brochure, that you can use to request a speaker.

If you want to help get this going, or have the name of a possible speaker, please contact Sharon Brauer at Nutrition@GreenEarthInstitute.org.

(2) Healthy Food Fair Binder (we are looking for a better name) – building on the success of the healthy food fair at Pierce Downers Elementary School, a group of us are putting together a binder that is a sort of “how to kit” to plan and organize a healthy food fair at your school. 

If you want to help get this going, or if you’re interested in organizing a healthy food fair at your school, please contact Michelle Hickey-Fouts at Nutrition@GreenEarthInstitute.org.

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3. GREEN EARTH FAIR TABLE & PRESENTATION

The Green Earth Fair was a whopping success with over 1,000 visitors! 

Michelle Hickey-Fouts and Marc Swetlitz presented on the work of our Network and on issues related to food in schools.  Thanks go to Kerry McClendon, Janet Trinier, Audrey Clair, Robin Church, Sandra McDonnell, and Laura Cruse for providing information about local efforts to improve food in schools.

Sharon Brauer and Jane Garrison deserve many thanks for their work in putting together the NISN table and for staffing the table during the fair.  Many people stopped by to look and talk and we added several names to our mailing list. 

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4. UPDATE ON LOCAL SCHOOL WELLNESS POLICIES

We are approaching the deadline for school districts to have wellness policies (by the start of the next school year).  While policies will, or should, be in place, they may not be very specific.  In addition, the key is to implement the policy.

What you can do:

(1) Once the 2006-2007 school year starts, ask your district administrators for a copy of the wellness policy.  If you want assistance locating the right person to ask, please contact Marc Swetlitz.

(2) Ask to join whatever committee or activity exists.  Even if there is a policy, implementation is the key.  A policy on paper means little.  Help make the policy a reality.

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5. UPDATE ON NEW RULES (rejected) FOR FOODS/BEVERAGES IN ILLINOIS SCHOOLS

On April 11, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), which reviews proposed changes in state regulations, voted 10-1 against the new rules proposed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

JCAR provided three reasons for their vote:
(1) the proposed rules did not provide a total approach to child nutrition through diet, nutrition education and exercise;
(2) while ISBE did have a period of public comment, the ISBE largely excluded input from local school districts and nutrition experts in the development of the proposed rules;
(3) adoption of the rules would have pre-empted the purview of the State Task Force on Wellness, which is to consider the issue of nutrition and report its recommendation on statewide nutrition standards to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before January 2007.

In July, 2005, the General Assembly passed Public Act 94-0199 which established the State Task Force on Wellness, which is an interagency working group of the Department of Public Health, the Department of Human Services, and the State Board of Education.  Therefore, while the ISBE may have been within their legal authority to make new rules, JCAR felt that they were trying to get around the authority of the State Task Force.  ISBE can respond to JCAR by proposing a new set of rules, but I’m not aware that they are pursuing this.

The bottom line: keep an eye out for new rules that may be proposed by ISBE, and also keep an eye out for news this fall from the State Task Force on Wellness.

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6. ONLINE RESOURCES

Helping Students Make Better Food Choices in School
Recently, a dozen Illinois schools participated in a project to test various approaches to improving school-based nutrition. Schools participating in the project varied in size, location, demographics, grade level, and type of food service management.

Some general results:
(1) The transition to healthy foods comes more quickly when new choices replace less nutritious foods, as opposed to the two being offered side by side.
(2) Salad bars are very popular, with a sizable percentage of students (15-35%) choosing items from the salad bar and, in some case, students making this their full entrée.
(3) Getting students to try a healthy food for a period of time appears to be the most important breakthrough strategy.  Once they did this, their habits tended to change even after the perk was gone.

And, some lessons learned:
(1) Involve students throughout the change process.
(2) Tasting and promotions get attention.
(3) Packaging counts; make it appealing and fun.
(4) Pricing counts – make healthy options price competitive.

Making It Happen – School Nutrition Success Stories
Making It Happen illustrates a wide variety of approaches that schools have taken to improve student nutrition. The most consistent theme emerging from these case studies is that students will buy and consume healthful foods and beverages—and schools can make money from healthful options.  This is available online as a series of PDF files or you can order a bound version of the book.

On the Soda Company Agreement
Michele Simon of the Center for Informed Food Choices takes a more skeptical look at the new policy agreed upon by the big soda companies.  The bottom line for us – we need to remain vigilant and work to make sure things improve.  The power rests in the local school districts and parents need to exert their power to make change happen.

What to Eat, by Marion Nestle
With so many choices and variety, so many competing products, and so many confusing terms and labels, how can we know what foods are the healthiest, freshest, most flavorful, and best value? In her new book, What to Eat, Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, takes us on a guided tour of the American supermarket and explains to us, in simple layman’s terms, how to decide among the 40,000 products available.

Westchester Coalition for Better School Food
The Westchester Coalition for Better School Food sounds very, very much like our Nutrition in the Schools Network.  They have a nice “Top Ten List for Better School Food.”  The coordinator of this coalition is one of the two angry moms in …

Two Angry Moms
These are two moms to watch!  And, we may be able to watch them if they are able to make the movie they want to make!  Check out the nice “Cool Resources” section.  Thank you to Lori Bjork for directing me to the above two sites.

Feed Me Better
Take a look at the Feed Me Better website and a report by the UK's Channel 4 to learn about what Jamie Oliver, formerly on the BBC’s Naked Chef television show, has done in the UK.  His goal is to replace processed food with freshly prepared foods in school lunches (or “dinners” as they are called in the UK).  Thanks to Connie Freundt for directing me to these sites.

The Future of Children
The Future of Children seeks to promote effective policies and programs for children by providing policymakers, service providers, and the media with timely, objective information based on the best available research.  The Future of Children is a publication of The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and The Brookings Institution.  Check out their Spring 2006 issue on Childhood Obesity. You can download one of the articles in this issues, "The Role of Schools in Obesity Prevention." In addition, their Policy Brief, Fighting Obesity in the Public Schools, provides an excellent summary of existing federal and state rules around food in schools, what has been happening over the past year or two, and future possibilities. 

If you do not want to receive the GEI Nutrition in the Schools Newsletters or Action Alerts, please send an email to Marc Swetlitz at swetlitzm@wideopenwest.com.

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