Schools succeeding in wellness efforts

Remember Johnny can't read? Public education used to focus its resources on such fundamental academic concerns.

But today in the era of Super Size Me fast food and video game excess, educators quite literally have a larger problem: They worry that Johnny can't see his toes.

National statistics make plain the problem. About 30 percent of children at the elementary school level are obese or at risk of becoming obese. At the same time, childhood diabetes, once unheard of, is on the rise.

President Bush set the requirement about two years ago when he signed into law the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.

School systems across the country had until July 1 to meet that requirement, which essentially states that schools must create plans to ensure better nutrition, more physical activity and overall improved wellness for all students.

That law also calls for schools to devise a system to measure the progress of their wellness policies.

What the law did not stipulate is the means by which schools should meet these requirements.

It did not say the school cafeteria has to switch exclusively to pizza with whole wheat crust.

Augusta Public Schools, however, decided to go this route as part of its initiative to improve the nutritional quality of the food their students eat.

The law did not say that a high school has to create a fitness center filled with treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bicycles and other aerobic and strength training equipment.

Waterville Senior High School, however, opted to go that direction after winning a $259,000 grant. The school even had money left over to buy kayaks and canoes.

The law does not stipulate that students should be on the move in the classroom.

But in Skowhegan-based School Administrative District 54, teachers at the lower grade levels have students engage in calisthenics when they're doing math, or slip in one of five CDs that feature lively songs geared to encourage physical activity.

In each school system, the wellness policy covers a wide range of areas that impact the physical and mental well being of students.

What remains to be seen is whether such policies lead to reducing obesity levels and improving the health of children. So far they have managed to generate a bit of controversy in some school departments, as traditional practices clash with the new push to get students in better shape.

Augusta Public Schools generated a decidedly public controversy concerning its wellness policy.

In the school board meetings last spring during which the policy was adopted, debate centered on whether fundraising groups should be permitted to sell food with little nutritional value.

What the board ultimately adopted was a compromise of sorts: Sports boosters can still sell soda and candy bars at sporting events, but fundraising drives at "school" events must stick to food that meets minimal nutrition requirements -- that means no soda or candy bars.

At the time, board Chairman William Burney explained that sports boosters are independent groups outside the school and those outside the jurisdiction of the wellness policy.

A school event, such as the annual Chizzle Wizzle show, in contrast, takes place in the school building.

Athletic Director Doug Frame said the wellness policy allows sports booster to sell ballgame fare at the concession stand, but forbids the sale of cookies, candy bars and other such foods at school or for school-sponsored fundraising drives.

"Our focus is trying to educate the kids (about nutrition), and the most important time to do that is during the school day," Frame said. "Outside of the school we can only go so far with them."

Kristen Gilbert, Waterville's school health coordinator, said that being more restrictive about school-sponsored fundraising drives has caused concern among administrators -- and for good reason.

Gilbert said this is money schools used to fund field trips and other activities and expenses that fall outside the regular budget. Administrators did not oppose the move, she said, but instead had mixed feelings.

"It wasn't a battle as much as it was a worry," she said. "It was a concern for administrators as far as how are they going to raise that $25,000 now."

Gilbert said a more limited controversy arose at George J. Mitchell School. Teachers at the elementary school protested the school board's decision to eliminate soda sales in the school to students and teachers alike.

"I think the elementary school teachers felt it was different at their level," she said. "Kids don't go into the teachers' lounge or see what teachers are eating for lunch , or what they are drinking."

At the high school level, in contrast, Gilbert said students are more savvy about what teachers are doing, and thus more sensitive to what they might deem a double standard.

While pockets of controversy have occurred, the effort to introduce more healthy practices and options has gone well overall.

Schools have put a big emphasis on introducing students to sports and activities that they can pursue lifelong. Waterville, Augusta and Skowhegan, for example, each offer an outing club to high school students, giving them the opportunity to paddle a canoe or glide along on cross-country skis.

"We are working to add activities like that to the regular physical-education program," Skowhegan's Albert said.

In the Augusta school system, food service director Barbara Raymond said the whole-wheat pizza has been a hit with students.

Raymond, a member of Augusta Public Schools' wellness committee, said she would have introduced whole-wheat pizza long ago if it had been possible.

"The whole-wheat pizza was new last year," she said, "only because it was the first time it was available on the market as far as quality product."

Brown rice, for instance, was on the menu last Tuesday, along with baked fish, vegetables, fruit and carrot-pineapple cake.

"That goes over very well," Raymond said of the brown rice. "We really don't have a problem (with children not accepting it). We cook it like regular rice -- not a lot of seasoning, maybe just a little butter and a dash of salt and pepper."

On the other hand, Raymond said brown rice requires a longer cooking time than white rice --45 rather than 25 minutes.

Three-grain pilaf, garden burgers, hummus, honey health bread and black bean and corn salad are among the other nutrition-packed foods that have cracked the menu.

"Sometimes we'll offer a lentil sauce when we do pasta," she said. "It is an excellent recipe, but not a lot of kids take it. I'd say if you had 200 kids eating lunch, maybe five will take it."

But encouraging developments seem to outweigh the disappointing ones on the wellness front.

Waterville's Frame said sports boosters have begun to make more nutritional food available at sporting events. At a recent all-day soccer competition, Frame said fruit cup pasta salads were the most popular concession item.

"The fruit cup pasta salads were outselling the other stuff," he said. "Those things went like wildfire."

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