District health program fit

Deirdre Newman

An Orange County Grand Jury singled out the school district as a

paragon of healthy nutrition programs in the midst of a county where

20% of public school students are overweight or obese.

The 2003-04 grand jury released its report on obesity in county

schools Tuesday, urging them to take an active approach in trying to

prevent obesity.

While grateful for the recognition, Newport-Mesa Unified School

District Supt. Rob Barbot said he isn’t surprised. The district is

committed to recognizing and enhancing the diverse factors that are

conducive to learning, like general health and nutrition, he said.

“If you were to sit in the classroom with a bad toothache or a

stomach ache or haven’t eaten, you can’t learn very well,” Barbot

said. “It all goes hand-in hand, as we all know.”

The jury emphasized key factors that contribute to the district’s

effective nutritional program, including the placement of Nutritional

Director Richard Greene under academic programming, not business

services. This was an intentional move to bring nutrition into the

classroom, Barbot said, instead of having things like sprouts and

bran muffins suddenly appear on the school lunch menu.

“So you go into classrooms and say, ‘Here’s what a pound of fat

looks like’ and they say, ‘Oh, gross!’” Barbot said. “Then you show

them one without fat. It’s up to them to make a better choice.”

This is not the first time the district has been ahead of the

curve in terms of health and nutrition. In 1997, the district banned

the sale of soft drinks in elementary and middle schools, which the

state didn’t get around to doing until last September. And for the

2003-04 school year, the district expanded the ban to high schools,

something the state has not done yet.

The district was able to launch its nutrition programs when it

started getting grants from the federal government about three years

ago, said Sharon Moore, the district’s registered dietician. The

district receives more funds from the government each year and has

expanded its effort by forming a Nutritional Advisory Council, which

was also commended by the grand jury. The committee is comprised of

parents, staff members and school board members.

Moore would like to see the nutritional program expanded to

involve more parents and have each school come up with healthy eating

recommendations specific to its students. While it’s too early to

gauge how much of an impact the nutrition program has had, the

evidence of its success is already obvious in school cafeterias,

Moore said.

“Kids are more interested in taking fruits and vegetables,” Moore

said.

The jury also lauded the district for integrating physical

education and nutrition into a comprehensive wellness program with

the school curriculum. And district officials are looking at focusing

on fitness even more in the future, Barbot said.

“We have more work to do, but we think we’re on to something,”

Barbot said. “We know it’s the right thing to do.”