The candy bar, always an easy sell at a buck a bar, has been a dependable and lucrative money-raiser for school fund drives for many years. But as area school administrators put federally mandated wellness policies in place for this fall, such bad-for-you items are getting a closer look.

Some systems aren't ready to ban candy and bake sales -- a move that would displease parent groups that organize the fund-raisers -- but most districts have taken significant steps to curtail junk food availability, at least during the school day.

All school officials agree on one point: The mandated wellness policies have given educators a ``teachable moment" to stress the importance of proper nutrition and adequate physical activity for overall well-being.

A sampling of area school districts found that two -- Cohasset and the Silver Lake Regional School District -- have put together comprehensive packages that ban junk food from the classroom, whether for celebrations or use by teachers as rewards. The comprehensive ban extends to the cafeteria, school stores, concession stands, and fund-raising drives.

``It will be a struggle for everybody initially," said Silver Lake Regional School Superintendent Dana Parker . ``It [represents] a culture change at the schools. . . . The intent of the policy is to maintain a much higher standard of nutritional values, and it includes some of those areas not traditionally under the schools."

The Wellness Policy has already been formally adopted by the Silver Lake Regional School Committee, the panel that governs the district's middle and high schools. Parker will strongly urge the elementary school committees in Plympton, Kingston and Halifax to follow suit when they vote later this summer. ``We want it consistent throughout the system," Parker said.

Cohasset's no-junk-food policy is similar. It covers the cafeteria, vending machines, school stores, and concession stands, as well as classroom celebrations and fund-raisers. Vending machines selling drinks are limited to the sale of milk, water, and fruit juices.

Milton's policy, still in draft form, takes a less strict approach. It encourages healthy eating but does not ban junk food -- except for soda, which is not allowed either in vending machines or in classrooms during the school day. The policy states that items sold at fund-raisers or used in classroom celebrations ``should include healthy choices," but stops there.

Jacqueline Morgan , director of food services in Milton, says junk food is pretty much a non-issue in Milton schools. Food fund-raisers are infrequent, she said, and when they do happen, they are not junk food-oriented. For example, a recent music fund-raiser sold citrus fruit, she said.

Norwell School Superintendent Donald Beaudette said the wellness policy has been reviewed once by the School Committee and it is expected to adopt a final version when it meets on July 17 . Under the draft, candy and soda will not be allowed in school vending machines and candy will be pulled from the shelves of school stores.

``We're stopping short of a ban, but we will encourage parents to provide healthy items for parties," he said. Junk food fund-raising items like doughnuts and candy bars, which were named in Norwell's policy as examples, can be sold, but not distributed to students until the end of the school day.

Beaudette said junk food is not being prohibited for classroom celebrations ``but we're encouraging healthy snacks." And Norwell school administrators plan to provide parents with a list of suggested substitutes to the usual cookie or cupcake.

Duxbury was in the news a few years ago for its unprecedented ban on sweets for classroom celebrations. But School Superintendent Eileen Williams said the ban was actually only at the Chandler School, which houses prekindergarten through Grade 2 . And it was the Chandler's School Council that made the decision.

Duxbury's new wellness policy is generalized, Williams said, and it will be up to the School Councils, along with school health officials, to add the specifics.

East Bridgewater School Superintendent Margaret Strojny said the wellness policy approved by the School Committee is a ``skeleton", meaning it simply meets the federal requirement for having such a document in place. A committee of parents, administrators, teachers, and health officials will add the ``flesh" over the course of the upcoming school year , she said.

Braintree's School Committee initially presented a draft policy that included bans on junk food in the classroom and for fund-raising, along with prohibitions about nonnutritious items being sold in cafeterias or vending machines. But that was too strict for some parents , and they said so.

In the end, the limitations on fund-raising or classroom party items were removed from the final package.

``Some of the PTOs have already signed up for what they are going to do next year" for fund-raising, said School Committee member Karen Whitney . ``Candy is one of the big items. Schoolwide, they can raise probably $10,000 to $20,000 in a year."

Fellow School Committee member Kathleen Maguire said she thought the prohibition ``was eliminated because it didn't seem to make sense in the overall policy," Maguire said. ``This was addressing general wellness, not specifics. . . . The idea is to educate children about healthy eating and activity."

The draft wellness policy had included a ban on teachers giving out sweets as rewards in their classrooms, but that prohibition was also absent in the final package.

Superintendent Peter Kurzberg said it will be left to the individual teachers to decide whether they will dispense candy and sweets, or allow parents to bring similar treats into their classrooms to celebrate special occasions.

``We don't really see it as a problem in any of our schools," Kurzberg said. ``The intent of the policy is to codify many of the things we already have in place like the breakfast program. In order to meet a federal requirement, we have to have a wellness policy approved."

Kurzberg said one could argue that anything in moderation is acceptable. ``I think you could get into considerable discussion about what is healthy," Kurzberg said. ``Is it the chocolate chip cookie, or the size of the cookie?"

Christine Wallgren can be reached at clwallgren@aol.com.

What do you think?

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