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Dec. 15, 2003
Vending machines restricted
Vending machines with items deemed "minimally nutritious" will only be allowed to operate after school because of a resolution passed by the Board of Education (BOE) on Dec. 9. The resolution, which will take effect after winter break, could result in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars for Blair.
Principal Phillip Gainous expressed concern over the passed resolution because Blair’s current contract with Pepsi stipulates that vending machines must be left on during the school day in exchange for the $55,000 annual payment. The contract states that if the machines are turned off, Blair will only be paid a monthly commission instead. “They aren’t going to pay us not to make any money," explained Gainous.
Blair also has a contract with Monumental Vending for snack food that gives the school 30 percent of the gross sales. Should the snack vending machines be turned off during the day, Blair would lose a significant amount of the approximately $20,000 it makes annually, according to Business Manager Anne Alban.
Despite the financial hit schools might take from turning the machines off, Patricia O’Neill, the BOE member who initiated the resolution, defended her stance. “We have an obligation to ensure a healthy environment," she said.
In Gainous’ opinion, the money from the vending machines is essential to pay for new computers, programs not financed by MCPS and test fees for students who cannot afford to take AP tests nor the SAT. “In order for the Blair community to have what more affluent communities can give their students," he said, “we have to have that vending machine money."
Springbrook High School Principal Michael Durso, who uses vending machine money to reduce the cost students have to pay for AP tests, questioned the actions of the BOE. “There’s no way our vending machine companies are going to continue shelling out the kind of bonuses that let us implement these initiatives if we’re changing the rules midstream," he said. “I wonder if anyone has considered the legal ramifications."
O’Neill said there are a variety of ways schools could make up any lost revenue, including a raise in extracurricular fees, a notion which Gainous rejected. He said more affluent schools could afford an increase in activity prices and still expect students to pay, but he did not believe the same would occur at Blair. “The schools who have fewer resources, it’s going to hurt those schools," he said. “That’s not what this county is about."
Some Blair students took issue with the resolution as well. Senior Josh Scannell believes Blair needs the money to provide students with opportunities given to teenagers at other schools and said he is planning a possible protest. “If it comes down to it and central office takes away our money which we need for basic services for our students," he said, “then we will take to the street."
Community Superintendent Walter Gibson said he thinks people are assuming schools will lose money, but he pointed out some schools have introduced measures to limit junk food intake without a significant loss of revenue. “Let’s see what happens," he said. “Maybe we’ll be surprised [and schools will not lose money]."
The reasons for dissent were not limited to funding issues. Student Member of the Board Sagar Sangvhi voted against the resolution because he believed students should be allowed to make up their minds about what to purchase. “We’re moving in the direction of moving away from student choice," he said. “I don’t think it will benefit students."
PTSA Co-President Valerie Ervin found the idea that students should be barred from vending machine items ridiculous. “I think it’s sort of absurd by the time a kid gets to high school to tell them what they can and can’t have," she said.
A taskforce to study alternatives to “non-nutritious beverages" with the goal of eliminating such items from vending machines at some point was created in late October by the BOE. The taskforce met only twice before the resolution extending restrictions on vending machines was passed, and the report the group was commissioned to present was never completed.
Gainous was a member of the workgroup and was confused by the sudden introduction of the vending machine resolution. “Why is this committee meeting?" he asked. “That’s one of the perplexing things to me. Why this resolution that would undercut that committee?"
Gainous did not find out about the vending machine resolution until Nov. 24, or 13 days after O’Neill introduced it at a meeting on Nov. 11. According to Gainous, MCPS principals were unaware of the resolution until a meeting on Dec. 3 when he brought the issue up. “None of the principals knew about this resolution," he said. “If they did, they would have been talking about it." Gainous said he felt the outcome of the vote might have been different had principals been informed of the pending changes.
Approximately 550 to 600 students, or only about one fifth of the student body, take an eighth period class resulting in a smaller number of possible consumers than during the rest of the school day. Currently, vending machines selling soda are disabled all day until the end of 5B lunch.
Council member Tom Perez said there was “no indication" the resolution could be brought before the County Council to be overturned.
A second resolution that would have removed vending machines from the entrances of schools did not pass by one vote.
Additional reporting by Easha Anand and Izaak Orlansky
Principal Phillip Gainous expressed concern over the passed resolution because Blair’s current contract with Pepsi stipulates that vending machines must be left on during the school day in exchange for the $55,000 annual payment. The contract states that if the machines are turned off, Blair will only be paid a monthly commission instead. “They aren’t going to pay us not to make any money," explained Gainous.
Blair also has a contract with Monumental Vending for snack food that gives the school 30 percent of the gross sales. Should the snack vending machines be turned off during the day, Blair would lose a significant amount of the approximately $20,000 it makes annually, according to Business Manager Anne Alban.
Despite the financial hit schools might take from turning the machines off, Patricia O’Neill, the BOE member who initiated the resolution, defended her stance. “We have an obligation to ensure a healthy environment," she said.
In Gainous’ opinion, the money from the vending machines is essential to pay for new computers, programs not financed by MCPS and test fees for students who cannot afford to take AP tests nor the SAT. “In order for the Blair community to have what more affluent communities can give their students," he said, “we have to have that vending machine money."
Springbrook High School Principal Michael Durso, who uses vending machine money to reduce the cost students have to pay for AP tests, questioned the actions of the BOE. “There’s no way our vending machine companies are going to continue shelling out the kind of bonuses that let us implement these initiatives if we’re changing the rules midstream," he said. “I wonder if anyone has considered the legal ramifications."
O’Neill said there are a variety of ways schools could make up any lost revenue, including a raise in extracurricular fees, a notion which Gainous rejected. He said more affluent schools could afford an increase in activity prices and still expect students to pay, but he did not believe the same would occur at Blair. “The schools who have fewer resources, it’s going to hurt those schools," he said. “That’s not what this county is about."
Some Blair students took issue with the resolution as well. Senior Josh Scannell believes Blair needs the money to provide students with opportunities given to teenagers at other schools and said he is planning a possible protest. “If it comes down to it and central office takes away our money which we need for basic services for our students," he said, “then we will take to the street."
Community Superintendent Walter Gibson said he thinks people are assuming schools will lose money, but he pointed out some schools have introduced measures to limit junk food intake without a significant loss of revenue. “Let’s see what happens," he said. “Maybe we’ll be surprised [and schools will not lose money]."
The reasons for dissent were not limited to funding issues. Student Member of the Board Sagar Sangvhi voted against the resolution because he believed students should be allowed to make up their minds about what to purchase. “We’re moving in the direction of moving away from student choice," he said. “I don’t think it will benefit students."
PTSA Co-President Valerie Ervin found the idea that students should be barred from vending machine items ridiculous. “I think it’s sort of absurd by the time a kid gets to high school to tell them what they can and can’t have," she said.
A taskforce to study alternatives to “non-nutritious beverages" with the goal of eliminating such items from vending machines at some point was created in late October by the BOE. The taskforce met only twice before the resolution extending restrictions on vending machines was passed, and the report the group was commissioned to present was never completed.
Gainous was a member of the workgroup and was confused by the sudden introduction of the vending machine resolution. “Why is this committee meeting?" he asked. “That’s one of the perplexing things to me. Why this resolution that would undercut that committee?"
Gainous did not find out about the vending machine resolution until Nov. 24, or 13 days after O’Neill introduced it at a meeting on Nov. 11. According to Gainous, MCPS principals were unaware of the resolution until a meeting on Dec. 3 when he brought the issue up. “None of the principals knew about this resolution," he said. “If they did, they would have been talking about it." Gainous said he felt the outcome of the vote might have been different had principals been informed of the pending changes.
Approximately 550 to 600 students, or only about one fifth of the student body, take an eighth period class resulting in a smaller number of possible consumers than during the rest of the school day. Currently, vending machines selling soda are disabled all day until the end of 5B lunch.
Council member Tom Perez said there was “no indication" the resolution could be brought before the County Council to be overturned.
A second resolution that would have removed vending machines from the entrances of schools did not pass by one vote.
Additional reporting by Easha Anand and Izaak Orlansky
Discuss this Article
Individual phone numbers of board members can be obtained at http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/boe/about/members/
You may want to ask them:
- If marginal health benefits are worth depriving blair students of the best education blair can possibly provide.
- If they plan to reimburse blair the thousands of dollars it will lose if it complies for breach of contract with Pepsi.
- If anyone is restricting when or what the board members choose to eat.
Please include your own thoughts, and be sure to tell them who you are: a proud blazer, blair parent, alum, or maybe a concerned citizen. Show them we care and that they can't impose misguided regulations at the cost of our education!
What if I really need a lot of calories? Maybe I'm tired and I have a dance performance later in the day. Sometimes a jumbo huney bun is exactly what i need.
Is he kidding???
Because obviously that lost revenue will just magically be compensate for some other way.
Right, and maybe pigs will fly too.
2. Wait 5 minutes
3. Plug in soda machine
4. Insert dollar
5. Press selection
6. Enjoy!
teenage obesity is on the rise, and i have no intention of paying for your health care when i pay taxes.
obesity is caused by a) junk food, b) lack of exercise, or c) both. if you eat say, carrots + water, but don't exercise, you won't gain weight. if you eat honey buns + don't exercise, you will gain weight. if you actually exercise, you won't gain weight. so many people, i.e. the fat people, in this school don't exercise, or if they do, it doesn't show. stop eating junk food. junk food is bad for you. just like drugs are bad for you.
the school's doing a horrible job of providing NUTRITIOUS, HEALTHY meals for students. the school serves junk food [french fries burgers], because it is cheap. money should not be the concern; your health should. i don't want to pay for your medicare one day.
And how hypocritical is it when you're saying that our health should be the main concern, not money, and you're babbling on and on about how you don't want to pay for our health care with your taxes, etc...?
anyway..I didn't know people eat "french fries burgers"
Also.."the fat people, in this school don't exercise"...you relly need to watch what you say..it could offend somebody
I would encourage students to take those numbers that "activist" provided, call them, email them, etc. and tell them that your health and right to an enviornment free from corporate advertising is not worth selling off to the highest bidder. Thank them for their decision, and if your worried about funding, tell them! When our schools cannot adequately be funded because our government spends more on funding occupations and militarizations, we can take action. The fact that we must take these contracts show that perhaps we have already reached this point. Maybe we should start raising our voices and fists and calling for changes now...
Reform the provided school food, and then we'll talk about changing the options for students.
Being lean with healthy bones and well toned muscles = Good.
Being all bones and skin with no muscles because your body ate it away from starving = Bad.
Just do your exercise, and next time you get that sugar or fatty food craving, think again and grab some celery.
Some people, like myself, have naturally fast metabolism, so no matter how much coke and combos i eat i stay skinny. I eat horribley as a matter of fact and if you wanna come see how health i am let me now.
It IS genetic to a degree. But also I think exercise is even more important than eating well. If you cut fat in your diet that doesn't necessarily mean you wont get fat. Direct consumption of fat is not in fact what makes you fat. This is a common misconception.
i also agree that the food in the vending machine is what keeps us awake during classes. with the ungodly amounts of homework and test we have to do/study for each night its a miracle that we even make it through the school doors without passing out and falling asleep. we need the sugar. also, i have a health problem ( low blood sugar) that makes me shake . the doctor says when i start shaking that im to eat something sugary. if they take away the vending machines where am i going to find that sugary goodness!?
I agree with your sentiment against the abuses of multinational corporations and with the principle that our government should be spending more on books and less on bombs, but ultimately I stand by the decision from the Blair administration's perspective.
Assuming they're doing all they can to get funding, which I believe, their actions come down to deciding between two outcomes: one in which there are more resources and they have made it easier for students to choose to eat unhealthily; and another in which there are fewer computers or the athletic fee is higher, placing the burden disproportionately on those who cannot afford it.
Keep in mind that people choose to purchase food from vending machines, and that Blair makes not one bit of difference to Pepsi, which would continue to succeed without our business.
When the day comes that every Blair student can read, every student graduates and every student who wants to goes on to college, I'll be standing with you against the corporate contracts. But for now, the best we can do is accept their money and lobby for more from the government that should but does not fund us sufficiently.
The BOE should respect the students' culture, and the fact that many choose to eat at lunch time instead of after school. In some cultures there is no meal, but only smaller amounts of food, between lunch and the evening meal. Selling the food only "after school" away from traditional meal time, and also after many students must leave on the bus, could be a problem.
Right now I have more health problems from working late on homework than from eating bad food. Where is the BOE homework restriction resolution? (I have not felt the effects of one yet.)
What if the Blair soda-at-lunch revenue (currently none) is restored and used to pay for cleaner restrooms and to discourage students from littering? That would be _VERY_ healthy.
Um...why is this girl calling other people ignorant and doesn't even know that Potomac is in Montgomery County? And what difference would it make anyway?
I have to say that there really do need to be healthier foods in the vending machines. That doesn't mean take the other stuff out, but it is hard to find fast, easy, relatively healthy food at blair. But - if parents want their kids to eat healthier foods, they need to teach their kids to eat healthier foods. You can't ask a school to teach your child what to eat.
Plus - these people are such hypocrites! We do see fat security guards, fat board members, fat adults all over the place, and nobody's restricting what they eat. Teenagers have to make a choice as to what they're gonna eat - it's our right - and if we had good role models our whatever, then hopefully we would learn the right thing.
i think you can be a little nicer in your comments. i'm sure they didn't stop the machines cuz ppl got fat. seriously, guys.
obesity being genetic is just something fat people say to make an excuse for them being lazy and eating too much
This just shows how ignorant, hateful, and prejudice people can be, not to mention close-minded. I went to Blair, and the 'opinion' enpressed in this comment just goes to show why I felt so uncomfortable at school, and makes me feel confident in the decision I made to leave. I hope for your sake that you don't end up having a child who has a metabolic disorder or is predispositioned to be obese so that they don't have to suffer the social ramifications of being fat, and so you, as their parent don't have to hurt for your child, or, worse, show prejudice and ignorance to them and make them hate themselves. I wish that you could walk a day in my shoes so that you knew exactly what it was like to be obese...then maybe it wouldn't be so black and white, and maybe you wouldn't be so ignorant and gain some understanding.
This is Bush's fault? This is a new one. The defense budget is not related to the educational one. But, on another note, the BOE has no right to restrict what choices students make. If they are going to give students the responsibilities they do, they have to give them privleges too.
If the Board really want to solve the so-called health problem, maybe they could try putting healthy food in the machines. Of course, there's still a 7-11 across the street...
Obesity is more genetic than anything, eating a bag of Cheetos isn't going to make me 50lbs over weight. We're not learning to make better nutritional choices by them hiding all the things deemed "of little nutritional value."
Blair has already been losing a lot of money for the past few years and now angry parents of obese kids want to aggravate the situation. We've got classes with 28 students and people are freaking petitioning because they're kids are obese and the school is selling candy bars. Give me a break!
Turning off the machines or limiting what's there all you're doing is censoring kids, and when we get out to the "real world" they're aren't going to be people to pick out for you what's healthy and what isn't. Isn't it better for us just to learn for ourselves?!
Ugh, another reminder of why I've given up on the human race.
Gyea, ya'll machines should be kept up cause ya know ya be having some hunger for snacks. That's cool tho cuz I be having my drinks and snacks in my Rolls Royce. Holla. Come holla at my clothing line.
if vending machines are not there i think that many students will bring things in the class rooms, everyday in the morning.
at that time the will eat or drink in the class rooms any time.and also some might even be stilling money from their parents and buy snacksor drink to put in their lockers.
I am trying to implement similar system into a middile school. Please send me some info.