The Healthy Schools Act

Over the next few weeks Congress will vote on some important bills focusing on Children and School Lunch Programs. I feel it is important to understand what is going on in DC and try and help make a difference in the community. By speaking out and supporting the people that are making change...we can come together and help kids get the healthy and well-balanced meal they deserve.

Check out this Alice Waters' Interview: It is very Interesting about Healthy School Lunches and current Bills on the table.

In this interview Alice Waters talks about DC and what Bills are being put before Congress. She states....

"We’re working to bring it to Washington, D.C. A bill has been introduced by the D.C. City Council called the Healthy Schools Act and sponsored by Councilwoman Mary Cheh, which would make school meals healthier and more nutritious; increase the amount of local and fresh fruits and vegetables served in schools; increase exercise and physical activity in the schools; as well as promote school gardens, recycling, energy reduction, and other green initiatives. We are part of a coalition of groups, called "D.C. Schools on the Move," all working very hard for this. I’m quite hopeful and invite every one of your readers in the D.C. area to join in supporting this very important effort.

There is also a bill before Congress, the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill, which gives USDA authority to set nutritional standards and expand the use of local farm products in the school meal program. We’re very encouraged that the administration is putting its muscle into getting more money for healthy school lunches. It certainly helps that the first lady, Michelle Obama, with her Let’s Move! campaign, has made ending the obesity epidemic in children her number one priority. If we can get Congress to pass this bill this spring, it will affect what the kids are eating at school next fall. Again I am very, very hopeful."

Currently the Healthy Schools Act is being talked about and decisions are being made.

In December 2009, DC City Council representatives Mary Cheh and Vincent Gray co-introduced the Healthy Schools Act of 2009. The Bill contains many important Farm to School initiatives, as well as other initiatives designed to improve the health and well-being of District schoolchildren and to “green” District schools. The Healthy Schools Act Hearing took place on March 26, 2010. The bill is now in the process of being finalized, before the voting process begins, with the goal of the legislation being in effect when school resumes in August 2010.

Yesterday the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment voted on the bill. Today (April 20^th) the Committee of the Whole will vote, and on Tuesday May 4^th the entire council will take a final vote to pass the bill as a law!

Here are some of the other highlights of what this bill would do (From The Slow Cook):

* Allow students to eat breakfast in the classroom in schools where more than 40 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals.

* Require a minimum 30 minutes for lunch.

* Eliminate trans-fats and introduce specific nutrition standards, including weekly portions of vegetables, over a four-year period.

* Regulate the amount of sodium in school food, but still allow more than the most recent USDA standards for commodity vegetables.

* Continue to allow snack and junk food, but in managed portion sizes.

* Continue to allow vending machines outside school lunch rooms, but no longer stocked with sodas, sports drinks, ice teas or other sugary beverages, including “fuit juices” with minimal actual fruit.

* Prohibit “foods” containing more than 35 percent sugar by weight, but continue to allow flavored milks some are now calling“sodas in drag,” as well as 100 percent fuit juices that are dense with sugar by virtue of the fructose they contain.

* Encourage schools to serve minimally processed agricultural products that are sustainably grown on local farms, and without the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics and hormones.

* Establish a school gardens program to aid in garden construction and incorporate gardens into school curricula.

* Eliminate Styrofoam and other non-recyclable materials from school lunch rooms and report on recycling efforts.

* Begin a pilot composting program for school food waste.

* Require minimum levels of physical exercise in grades K through 8.

* Establish “wellness centers” in the city’s high schools.

* Nutrition standards, including ban on sugary beverages, would not apply at sporting events. But foods not meeting the standards could not be offered as prizes or incentives in schools.

What can you do to help:

1. Sign the D.C. Farm to School Network’s in support of farm to school in the Healthy Schools Act.

2. Contact your councilmember and ask them to VOTE YES for the Healthy Schools Act on Tuesday May 4^th! Get your councilmember’s contact information here, and download a sample letter to email or send here.

3. Stay Connected - Check Mary Cheh’s site and signing up for her email alerts. The D.C. Farm to School Network is also keeping track of the bill here.

Information given by: DC Food For All

Blog - Better D.C. School Food - Better D.C. School Food is the official blog of Parents for Better D.C. School Food.