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Junked

School board bans candy

Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (June 27/03) - Inuvik students will be eating only healthy foods for snacks and lunches this September due to a new policy that forbids chips, pop and candy from school grounds.

NNSL Photo

The Beaufort Delta Education Council has drawn up a new policy that will ban junk food from all school grounds in the region. - photo illustration by Merle Robillard


The Inuvik District Education Authority met last week to discuss a nutrition policy that will ban all "junk foods" from schools during hours of normal operation.

Board member Sue Clarkson said the new policy is part of a healthy food and drink policy that will affect all grades and all schools in the Beaufort Delta.

"There is a time and a place for chips and pop," Clarkson said. "They are allowed after school, just not during school hours or on school premises and that's for all grades." "The pop machines will stay, but they won't have pop in them," Clarkson said.

The machines will be filled with juice and bottled water.

Clarkson said the policy will not interfere with the fundraising sales of chocolates and popcorn that schools participate in.

The DEA will be working with a regional nutritionist to develop a list of what foods will and will not be allowed.

"Granola bars are one of those tricky ones, because sometimes they are loaded with chocolate," Clarkson said.

Samuel Hearne student council president, Amanda Johns, says the policy needs some work before it's implemented.

"I think it's really flawed," Johns said. "They don't really have any clear guidelines for it."

She questions what defines "junk food" and what will be the punishment resulting from infractions and whether the rule applies to staff as well.

"Does this mean that teachers aren't allowed to have their morning coffee anymore," she asked. "Coffee cannot be described as healthy."

The student council at SSHS operate a concession with funds going to the grad class and other events. The grad class operate a machine filled with juice and the sports teams operate the pop machine at the school.

"They make a good amount of money off that every year," Johns said. "Now if the sports teams start selling juice, they are going to be cutting into each other's profits."

She compared the new rule to when the school banned smoking on school grounds.

"All the kids went and stood in the middle of the road," Johns said.

With the junk food ban, Johns said the students will just cross the road to the convenience store a block away.

James Anderson, Director of the Beaufort Delta Education Council said the new policy was adopted across the region, based on the request of the various DEAs.

"A number of district education authorities have already had this in place for a couple of years," Anderson said.