Soda Machines In Schools
FLORENCE, SC --
When students in Florence School District 1 head to vending machines to buy a snack or a soda, they’re also helping to buy classroom supplies, gift cards and other miscellanies that ordinarily would be budgeted for through other district financial accounts.
Vending machines in the district’s three high schools — South Florence, West Florence and Wilson —bring in more than $40,000 a year, according to documents from a recent board of trustees meeting detailing the school vending machine accounts.
About 60 percent of that amount, $24,599, comes from West Florence High School, which boasts 18 vending machines in its cafeteria alone.
Luther Rabon, the district’s chief financial officer, said the recession has led to dwindling funds for supplies and that principals are able to use money from their school’s vending machine accounts to make up the difference.
“Our budget has been cut tremendously,” Rabon said. “When they run out of their supply money, they have to start looking at other sources.”
According to the document, money from the vending machine accounts has gone toward paying for new teacher lunches, Christmas parties and other items, including Krud Kutter cleaning supplies, travel reimbursements and printer ink cartridges.
But that’s not to say the vending machines are used as a piggybank; Rabon said school principals tend to be more fiscally conservative and use the money where they see fit.
“It just takes some of the burden from local-school funds,” Wilson Principal Dr. Gerard Edwards said. “It really helps in the standpoint of being able to offer some extra activities.”
The district operates using nine funds, including a pupil activity fund for each school where money from the vending machines ends up.
Rabon said the vending machine account is the only account with very few restrictions as to how that money can be used.
Rabon said some principals choose to hold on to the money for their school as long as they can in case of an emergency before the district’s new budget begins for the next school year.
“You can’t label anybody as ill-spending money, because there’s no pattern,” he said. “With the economy like it is, you’re just trying to be as conservative as you can and take care of those funds.”
Rabon said it’s up to the school’s staff and principal to decide how many vending machines go in the schools.
Neal Vincent, South Florence’s principal, said the school’s vending machine account can help supplement costs.
“It helps with the landscaping and beautification projects on campus,” he said. “Students and teachers can request things, and I go through and oversee that.”
At West Florence, account money has also helped purchase five new computers for the school, safety goggles for a physical science class and classroom equipment.
“There’s no icing on the cake anymore,” Robert L. Bethea, administrative assistant at West Florence, said. “When we look at the economy, we need this. We need this. This is just another way of helping students get the education they need.”
The school year has begun and millions of children have returned to a “vending machine diet.” This, according to a worrying post in the LA Times health blog, Booster Shots (one of our favorites). The post refers to a study recently published in the Journal of School Health.
The stats are frightening:
Vending machines are found in 16% of U.S. elementary schools, 52% of middle schools and 88% of high schools. About 22% of students in grades 1 through 12 buy food in vending machines each day – and those purchases added an average of 253 calories to their diets. read more…
And don’t placate yourself by imagining junior is buying healthy snacks. The most popular purchases are sugary soft drinks, candy bars, and savory snacks. Yes, the kids also purchase fruit juices and milk, but in some cases they contain even more sugar than the soda.
The bottom line (unbelievable!):
All that snacking adds up to about 14 extra pounds per child per school year.
These stats have not gone unnoticed by school officials and educators. But with dwindling government funding for our children’s free education, schools are not in a rush to remove vending machines, a source of added revenue, from the campus.
What about selling healthier alternatives in vending machines? Some schools are trying to do that, but there are a lot of misconceptions around this. When Snapple is touted as a healthy alternative to soda, we’ve got problems.
Think of the dilemma last year in New York’s Department of Education. A deal with Snapple would bring in $35 million to the school district, but a deal with a provider of healthier options was valued at $7 million dollars less. Thankfully, the school chose less money, more healthy snacks. But don’t get your hopes up too high – Baked chips and reduced fat Doritos are still popular mainstays.
What can we do as parents?
- Demand plenty of clean, functioning water fountains in school hallways and yards. For some reason, it seems there were a lot more when we were kids, not just at schools, also in shopping malls. Kids will drink the water, and be less apt to go for soda.
- Tell your school you don’t want vending machines. Work with schools to find alternative ways to create income.
- Alternatively – set clear guidelines as to what foods and beverages are allowed in vending machines.
- Get your school involved in healthy food initiatives such as Chef Ann Cooper‘s Salad Bar Project, a joint program with Whole Foods Market.
- Stock your child with snacks from home (bought or homemade), to at least control what she is snacking on.
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