Boulder's 'renegade lunch lady' back to the drawing board

The days of birthday cupcakes shared with the class or candy bar fundraisers for the football team may be drawing to a close. The Boulder Valley School District is considering a "wellness policy" aimed at "eliminating unhealthy food from the school experience." The plan contains 19 strategies for keeping kids fit: a nanny's dream indeed.

As originally reported by the Daily Camera, a draft of the plan "encourage[s]" what parents send to school for classroom snacks, replaces processed pasta with fresh product and mandates that bake sales and ice cream socials "be held in moderation." (Who's to decide what that means?) Advertising at sports venues for any "non-nutritious foods and beverages" is also verboten.

Members of the School Board took up the issue Tuesday, with some members concerned over “prescriptive” language in the proposed guidelines. Ann Cooper, the district's nutrition director (and self-described "renegade lunch lady" who hails from Berkeley, Calif.), developed the policy and has been directed to re-work its language for reconsideration in August.

The draft policy isn't just about the food on cafeteria tables, either: goal 9 reads in part, "Meals served to students shall be attractively presented in a pleasant environment with sufficient time for eating and socialization at the table." (PDF)

The goal of the district's "School Food Project" is noble, but nutrition starts at home. "Suggestions" have a way of becoming mandates, and the new policy reaches right into a family's kitchen and questions parents when packing lunches.

Parents outside Boulder should watch for school food evangelists coming their way: the policy also makes a "public policy" pronouncement that "The School Board will work cooperatively with School Boards throughout the state and the nation to advance goals of wellness."