9486 in the collection
Values in San Diego: Capitalism Wins Every Time
Ohanian Comment: I wonder if they teach any units on ethics in San Diego. What a message this sends to students: People are concerned about childhood obesity, diabetes, clogged arteries, high blood pressure--and San Diego schools will make money selling crap to kids. Their justification? If we don't sell it, someone else will. And these people are in charge of children. They sold out kids for a cool million.
Truth in disclosure: 20 years ago I led a campaign to get Coke out of our middle school cafeteria. The administrators balked--they liked the revenue. It took us two years, but we won.
Coke is it at San Diego schools, for a cool $1 million a year.
The city school district has agreed to sell only Coca-Cola beverages in campus vending machines over the next five years.
The San Diego Unified School District's first exclusive soda contract will generate money to help schools pay for fitness programs, nutrition education and a host of student activities.
Exclusive soda contracts have long made schools extra cash. The Sweetwater and San Dieguito union high school districts, for example, make money by staying true to Pepsi drinks.
But San Diego enters the arena as politicians, nutritionists and educators nationwide are debating whether schools should sell sugary carbonated beverages that have been linked with obesity, tooth decay and other ailments.
Furthermore, some school systems – including the Los Angeles and Oakland unified school districts – have banned carbonated drinks altogether in an effort to fight obesity and encourage better nutrition among students.
But San Diego Unified officials say their deal makes good sense financially and it offers the "healthiest approach" to soda sales.
Under the agreement, approved by the school board this week, district schools will increase their soda profits from less than $300,000 a year to at least $1 million. All of the proceeds go to schools.
"This is good news for the schools," said Dennis Yeatman, a district administrator who supervised the Coke deal. "We are consolidating our buying power, so schools will get more money. But we are also trying to promote the more healthy products."
For example, water will sell for 25 cents less than soda in vending machines. Gyms and locker rooms will only allow the sale of sports drinks and water. And under the policy, half the beverages in high school vending machines must be noncarbonated products, such as sports drinks, water and juice beverages.
The arrangement also bans the sale of carbonated drinks at elementary and middle schools, which will be permitted to sell only water, sports drinks and juice beverages that contain at least 50 percent juice.
A recent law prohibiting soda sales at elementary and middle schools statewide beginning in January will not take effect because the state failed to fund nutrition programs called for in the legislation.
However, a pending Senate bill would impose the soda prohibition next year. At least 20 other states are considering similar soda restrictions. Texas is the only state that bans soda at schools during lunch.
High schools are exempt from the proposed state soda ban, in part, because student clubs and organizations, such as student government groups, rely on soda funding.
Los Angeles and Oakland school districts took some criticism for the financial hit student clubs could take from the soda bans. But officials from both districts said the benefits outweigh the losses. Oakland schools stopped selling soda this year and the Los Angeles soft drink ban begins in January.
San Diego Unified should join other large urban districts in California and impose an outright ban on soda, said trustee Frances O'Neill Zimmerman, who cast the lone opposing vote on the Coke proposal during Tuesday's school board meeting.
"These sugary carbonated drinks are unhealthy for kids and everybody knows it," Zimmerman said. "Its just ridiculous and irresponsible. Everything has a dollar sign, everything is for sale."
A recent statewide survey by California Center for Public Health Advocacy found that 30 percent of California's children are either overweight or at risk of being overweight.
The typical American teenage boy consumes about 800 cans of soda a year. Girls drink slightly less, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An average 12-ounce can of soda contains 150 calories.
Teenagers consume much more sugar than the government recommends. Teenage boys take in more than twice the recommended amount of sugar each day, nearly half of which comes from soda, according to the USDA.
Yeatman is sensitive to the health concerns associated with soda consumption. But he believes nothing will keep a kid from a cold soda, not even a ban.
Soda has been sold at San Diego schools for years – under 18 different contracts, most of which were arranged "by 17-year-old student body presidents," Yeatman said. The consolidated contract is just one example of how the school district is improving its business practices, he said.
"If we abolish carbonated beverages on campus, the happiest people are the 7-Elevens and the gas stations that abut up against the schools," he said. "If they don't get them on campus, the kids are going to buy them somewhere else."
— Maureen Magee
Coke, schools wrap up a deal
San Diego Union-Tribune
July 10, 2003
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20030711-9999_7m11soda.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
