Money — not good nutrition — seems to be on the minds of some adults working or volunteering for school districts in Maine.
Indeed, they’re fretting over potential lost income from sugary Skittles, Mountain Dew and other junk food sold at after-school football games and band concerts, the Portland Press Herald reports.
Interestingly, the state has one of the most ambitious anti-obesity initiatives in the country, with soda and candy sales taboo during school hours.
But school officials and some parents are worried about losing the hefty proceeds from those nutrition-lacking nibbles at after-school events. The funds go toward letter jackets and end-of-the-season parties and other items they can’t otherwise afford.
It’s simply shocking and disconcerting to me how some adults are more focused on making money than feeding their kids well.
Reporter Josie Huang writes:
"Robin Marsanskis, a parent volunteer at Scarborough High School, doubts that selling food that meets the state’s nutritional standards – trail mix or granola bars, for example – would net as much money.
"We have offered healthier snacks, but they don’t sell like candy," said Marsanskis, whose daughter’s cheerleading squad bought a new state-of-the-art exercise mat thanks to robust concession sales…
"The resistance to the new rule has not been surprising to public health advocate Karen O’Rourke, although she sees the irony in parents of student-athletes selling junk food.
"It’s about money," said O’Rourke, vice president of operations at the Maine Center for Public Health. "I think they don’t realize or can’t quite get their brain around the fact that they can make money some other way. So when someone tries to tell them they have to do something differently, there’s a lot of pushback."
Why can’t these adults put their heads together and figure out an alternate way to make money? Selling junk food isn’t the only way to do it!
One thought on “Maine Wants Junk Food Income”
I think if the schools switched the soda vending machines for those filled with water bottles and fruit juice, they’d still make *some* money…though admittedly not as much as full-sugared colas would.
It’s just too bad that it’s come to this. Fifteen years ago, when I was in high school, there were only 2 vending machines for soda, but they held fruit juice and seltzers, too. One was down in the pool hallway, outside of the arena, and the other was in the cafeteria. That was it!
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