Students selling snacks shut down
By: Andrea Koskey
Examiner Staff Writer
March 9, 2009
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| Galileo High School's student store is no longer allowed to sell snacks due to the school district's nutrition policies. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Galileo High School student body president Jessica Wong and her peers thought they could sell food at the student store to help
raise money for their class graduation. Earlier this month, though, operations were shut down because food being sold was in violation of the district’s wellness policy, which limits junk food sold on campus.
“One school that violates the wellness policy because they need money, they’re doing it at the expense of every classroom of the schools that try to adhere to policy,” parent Dana Woldrow said.
Woldrow, co-chair of the Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee, helped create the district policy that cut down the amount of junk food sold in the district by limiting fat content and calories. A state law, SB 12, was passed in 2005 outlining similar guidelines for student nutrition.
Woldrow said Galileo’s student store chose several of the wrong foods — including pizza, chips and candy — to sell to students.
According to Woldrow, school food, which is funded by student nutrition services, has a mounting debt of $4 million. When a student buys food from the store and does not purchase from the cafeteria, it takes away profit and wastes food that would have been eaten otherwise.
Meyla Ruwin, director of the school health programs department at San Francisco Unified School District, said food sold at fundraising events is one of the district’s biggest violations of the policy.
“We’re trying to let them know the difference between what is actually snack-worthy versus what is not, in a positive manner, so they can learn,” Ruwin said.
Wong, though, said the Class of 2009 is hundreds of dollars short of its $8,300 goal.
“I kind of think we’re being picked on,” she said.
Woldrow, however, said Galileo is not the only school in violation of the policy. She said they are always trying to teach students, administrators and parents about healthy and unhealthy foods.
“We just don’t want a bake sale in the lobby at lunch time where kids can spend their $2 lunch money on sugar,” she said. “It’s counter-productive.”
Food policies at San Francisco public schools
Nutrition standards for food served at San Francisco’s public schools are intended to offer students healthy alternatives to eating off-campus.
- Allowable foods can have no more than 30 percent of calories from fat and no more than 10 percent from saturated fat.
- Allowable foods can contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight.
- Snacks and side dishes should contain at least 5 percent of the recommended daily intake for eight essential nutrients: protein, iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamin, niacin and riboflavin.
- Limits set on portion sizes.
Source: SFUSD
