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L.A. Unified seeks to add nutrition education to the curriculum, give students more of a voicein what's served and more time to eat.

By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles TimesDecember 15, 2012

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Expanding young students' role in nutrition

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At Mark Twain Middle School in Los Angeles, a bloominggarden serves as a classroom. Students learn math bymeasuring the growth of wheat, ancient history by building aMesopotamian-style irrigation system and the science ofevaporation, evolution and genetics by watching their gardengrow.

At lunchtime, they may be found snacking on pasta tossed in asauce featuring just-picked tomatoes and basil.

Aiming to expand such links between classroom and cafeteria,the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Educationvoted this week to further strengthen what is regarded as oneof the leading school nutrition programs in the nation. In aresolution passed without opposition, board membersdirected the district to create a plan to incorporate nutritioneducation into the curriculum, give students more say inschool meal planning and allow them at least 20 minutes toactually eat. Some students say they end up with as little asfive minutes for meals because of long cafeteria lines.

The resolution also directs Supt. John Deasy to report on thefinancial impact of unauthorized food sales on campus, which

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Volunteer Renee Meshul, left, serves Randee Mervin from the garden table at Mark Twain Middle School in Venice.(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / December 10, 2012)

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include chips, cookies and other junk food that compete withthe district's meals. Despite districtwide policies promotinghealthful food, many individual campuses sell such perennialfavorites as baked Flamin' Hot Cheetos in school stores andvending machines to raise money.

Board member Steve Zimmer, who co-sponsored theresolution with President Monica Garcia, said the districtneeded to continue pushing forward on the issue, noting that

healthful eating is linked to academic achievement and that some students rely on school meals formost of their daily nutrition.

"We have a sacred obligation to make sure we do everything in our power to raise the quality of ournutritional content," Zimmer said.

The resolution is the latest effort to put L.A. Unified in the forefront of a national movement to makeschool meals more nutritious and reduce childhood obesity and other health problems.

Over the past several years, L.A. Unified has banned sodas and flavored milk on campus, introducedclassroom breakfasts to ensure no child starts the day hungry and transformed its menus. Many itemshigh in fat, salt and sugar have been removed — including such popular fare as corn dogs and coffeecake — in favor of more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

The changes have not always been popular. The turkey burgers are "nasty" and the Italian flatbreadwith marinara sauce "makes your breath disgusting," said Keonta Johnson, a Mark Twain sixth-grader.

But Keonta and three of his friends eating lunch this week said they enjoyed such healthful cafeteriafare as rice and beans, salads and fruits. "We know if we eat too much junk food we'll get fat and havea greater chance of heart attacks and diabetes," Keonta said.

Edwin Castro, a seventh-grader, said his friends particularly lamented the loss of the coffee cake andspicy chicken wings; and fewer of them now eat school meals because they don't like them. But, Castrosaid, he has cut back on chips, cookies and candy the last few years after learning about nutrition inschool and seeing his parents and grandparents struggle with diabetes.

He and other students said lessons in eating habits, history and other subjects that employed hands-on work out in the school garden have been far more exciting than just reading textbooks.

The garden was revived three years ago by a couple of volunteer master gardeners, who have helpedteachers connect it to the curriculum. Those efforts, Zimmer said, can be a model for other schools.

David Binkle, L.A. Unified's food services director, said the district would carry out the board'sdirective to expand student voices in meal planning through continued campus surveys and plans tobuild "culinary advisory teams" of food manufacturers, culinary schools and other local partners towork on menu issues at individual campuses.

The district is surveying thousands of students, who so far have given a thumbs-up to about half themenu items — including fajitas and chicken teriyaki rice bowls — and rejected others such as theItalian flatbread.

The resolution passed this week also directs the district to form a committee of nutrition experts,community members, food service workers, parents and others to annually evaluate and grade theefforts to carry out the board's school nutrition policy.

Officials with the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles said parts of the resolution, while well-intended, could be challenging to put into practice. Making sure every student has 20 minutes to eat,for instance, could require more cafeteria workers, school supervision and possibly a longer schoolday, said Dan Isaacs of the administrators' union.

"I don't think any human being on Earth would deny a youngster time for lunch, but you have to takea careful look at it," he said.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

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Comments (3) Add / View comments | Discussion FAQ

jhklat at 12:07 AM December 18, 2012Teach children the truth about nutrition - a healthy meal is filled with animal fat, protein, anda very little to no carbohydrates.We've spent so long misinforming our society, claiming that fat is bad for you, and thatstarchy vegetables and sugary fruits are good for you, that we've not only suffered throughdecades of poor health, we've honestly believed that we were doing the right thing the wholetime.Carbohydrates are the root cause of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and otherchronic diseases. By raising blood sugar levels, carbohydrates raise insulin levels, whichcauses fat cells to accumulate fat, cholesterol in the blood to become dangerous, and damagesthe body as a whole.Stop eating carbohydrates. It's simple.

Eric in Los Angeles at 2:24 PM December 16, 2012It's sad that so many charter and pilot schools eliminate health class in order to avoid hiring acredentialed Health Sciences teacher to teach a one semester course. MANY credentialedhealth teachers have been permanently released from the district over the past few years.

Len Saunders at 8:13 PM December 14, 2012Health habits start at a young age, so these students are not only being educated in math orscience, but also nutrition - which will hopefully last a lifetime. As childhood obesity numberssoar, it is refreshing to read about a success story like this!Len SaundersAuthor, Keeping Kids Fitwww.lensaunders.com

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