Officials want to encourage healthier choices in schools
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
While a small handful of policies drew the most attention Monday night in a Burlington Area School District School Board Policy Committee meeting, a number of revisions to others were discussed – and passed.
Among the policies that were revised included the district’s wellness policy – which is being required by the state and federal governments.
While the policy revisions were relatively straightforward – wording revisions, mostly, and allowing for 25 minutes instead of 20 for school lunch times – two specific issues regarding food choices were heavily debated.
The first, the bringing in of treats by students to celebrate things like birthdays, is being approached from a healthier standpoint. While students aren’t being forbidden from bringing in items such as cookies or cupcakes, the district is encouraging healthier choices such as fresh fruit, vegetables or cheese.
School Board member Roger Koldeway said the current policy is being misinterpreted, as parents have been turned away from schools this year for bringing inappropriate foods.
BASD Superintendent Peter Smet reassured him that the wording is specific – encouragement and discouragement – and any misunderstandings would be clarified in the future.
Koldeway’s wife, Julie, then spoke up from the audience, criticizing menu choices available for school lunches and students being forced into unhealthy choices because of where in the line items were.
After a brief discussion, School Board President David Thompson asked to move on, as they were off topic, and while Roger Koldeway voted no, the policy changes were passed.
The purchasing policy was also reviewed Monday evening, but sent back for further revisions. Roger Koldeway said that the “strategic alliance” wording in the policy would be an open invitation to charge the district more.
“We are telling companies we will pay whatever they want,” he explained.
There were other issues. School Board member Jim Bousman said that while revisions were being made for transparency purposes, there were still many questions.
“While this policy is short on verbiage, it’s long on assumptions,” he said. He also added as an example that the district is saying projects have to be put out for bids, but not how.
The Policy Committee approved changes to:
• Policy 171.2, which will now allow the School Board president to add items to the agenda for a meeting. Previously, only the superintendent could add items.
• Policy 527, which needed to be revised to remove references to negotiated grievance process rights. Those rights are no longer negotiated due to Act 10, and are instead included in the employee handbook.
• Policy 495, which establishes a harassment policy for disputes between students.
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