Schools Get Healthy As Law Takes Hold

Elena Serrano, 7, second right, eats an ice cream sandwich during lunch at the Four Seasons Elementary School in St. Paul, Minn., June 29, 2006. The lunch included applesauce, baked tater tots and sloppy joes on wheat buns. Schools have until the end of summer to meet federally mandated "wellness policies" regarding nutrition and physical activity. (AP Photo/Eric Miller, file) (Eric Miller - AP)

"The truth is, one Jolly Rancher isn't bad, but 13 years of several Jolly Ranchers a day is a bad habit to learn," said superintendent Tamara Uselman.

Her district is incorporating more movement into the school day as well. One geography teacher is setting up stations in her classroom so students are on the move every 20 minutes.

Many school districts are making clear that recess is valuable exercise time and shouldn't be withheld as punishment.

While school leaders and health advocates generally laud the law's intent, concerns do exist.

Congress didn't give schools money to implement the policies or offer compensation for the potential loss of vending sales proceeds.

An Illinois education panel noted another barrier: Schools have difficulty setting aside time from their other pressing priorities such as the federal No Child Left Behind law, which carries consequences if students don't show progress in core subjects.

The wellness directive requires school districts to measure progress but doesn't contain consequences for those that don't live up to the law.

"I don't think the federal government put enough teeth into this," Dunham, the elementary principal, said. "We are accountable basically only to ourselves. In some school districts, I could see this going by the wayside."

And don't expect the wellness policies to, um, bear fruit overnight.

"It's like eating an elephant," said Brenda Greene, the National School Board Association's director of school health programs. "You need to do it one bite at a time."

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On the Net:

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