Study shows children in local schools do not meet nutritional/physical standards.
By Carolanne Sudderth/Ocean Park Gazette
Webster Elementary School will be one of three Santa Monica-Malibu Unified schools that will play guinea pigs in an experiment designed to ascertain the connection between proper nutrition and academic excellence.
Although Santa Monica and Malibu are both famous for the sleek physiques of its residents, that claim may end with this generation.
According to the 2002 Fitgram Assessment, children of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District fall way short in the nutrition/physical fitness department.
The report states that only 30 percent of SMMUSD 5th graders are considered fit by state standards.
Thirty-three percent of them failed key tests of cardiovascular health and failed to meet minimum Healthy Fitness Zone standards in critical aerobic capacity testing. And 25 percent are obese or dangerously overweight.
“At sites with the highest percentages of Latino and Afro-American students, this number increases to 35 percent,” according to the assessment.
Muir-SMASH, Webster elementary and Lincoln Middle schools are slated to be the target schools for a pilot program during the 2002-2003 school year.
The program, described by SMMUSD Physical Education Director Chris Corliss and Tracie Thomas, interim director of Food and Nutrition, is funded by a Model School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy Grant from the state of California, which translates into $25,000 worth of funding.
The grant will enable the district to initiate an 18-month planning process bringing together food and nutrition services, health education and physical activity. In addition to basic health issues, the nutritional and physical fitness status of children may help determine their readiness to learn.
To this end, the district is looking implementing the following program(s):
- On-campus food sales will be limited official food service providers, “so that we’re not telling students one thing in education and then having them go out and buy pizza that’s 50 percent fat.”
- Fresh fruits and vegetables will be made available at all locations where foods are sold.
- Teachers will be educated on the negative effects of using “certain foods” as classroom rewards and encouraged to seek out alternatives.
- A teacher will be assigned to serve as program liaison to report on progress.
- Cafeteria food will be evaluated for compliance with Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
- In elementary schools, all foods sold during breaks will be subject to the following standards:
* Fat: Maximum of 35 percent total calories
* Saturated fat: Not more than 10 percent total calories.
* Sugar: Not more than 35 percent of total weight
* Fruit-based drinks must contain at least 50% fruit juice. Other than these, water and milk are only beverages that may be sold.
- The sale of unhealthy foods as fundraising premiums will be discouraged. Webster Elementary has an advantage in having a school garden from which fresh, organic vegetables are served to students and a parent brings in homemade soup once a week.
- Physical Activity: The move towards greater fitness will also be implemented in physical education classes. In addition, instead of being seated during roll call, students will engage in aerobic warm-up activities.
Activities and games where students stand in line waiting for a turn or sit on the sidelines will be eliminated. These will be replaced with programs that will be inclusive and require all students to be moderately to vigorously active. These will be modified to be aerobic, and organized to ensure that at least 50 percent of the students have a piece of equipment and/or are engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity.
“We think we can create a model program in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified that can provide lots of information,” Corliss said.
The results will be analyzed with external help from UCLA School of Public Health, Pepperdine University and others. Rand Corporation has expressed interest in the outcome, Corliss said.