By Dan Calabrese —— Bio and Archives May 28, 2014
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The School Department has refused to stock the salad bar since September and — to the horror of the school’s health and wellness committee — has reinstated the sale of snacks, including cookies and Doritos, during lunch. As Michelle Obama campaigns across the country to get more salad bars into public schools, many educators, students, and parents are befuddled by Boston’s decision to weed out salad bars from its cafeterias. Nearly all of the six salad bar stations that once operated in Boston schools were donated by a foundation pushing Obama’s cause. “It is outrageous,” said Susan Trotz, a guidance counselor at the Curley and co-chair of the health and wellness committee. “There’s an epidemic of childhood diabetes and obesity in this country. We need to give our students healthy and good-tasting choices. We need to give our students real food not processed food.” Cost is part of the calculation. The school system’s food services program has been quietly shutting down the salad bars over the past two years as it has struggled with millions of dollars in financial losses. The program racked up a $3.6 million deficit last school year and is on track to incur similar losses this year, according to a review the School Department released last week that also unveiled widespread mismanagement and dysfunction in the program.Pretty good example of the inherent limits to government's power to make us healthy. Sorry to inform you of this, Mrs. Obama, but kids don't want to eat salad. Hey, I love salad! I eat it every day. But I'm 47. When I was a kid I didn't like it any more than these kids, and yet you goaded the public schools into putting millions on the line sticking it in front of them, only to see the food and the money wasted because, duh, kids don't want to eat salad. Nice try. Remember that next time you, uh, sign a bill into law.
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