Homer Alaska - Letters

Statistics show that one out of every three children is overweight or obese in this country. The Kenai Peninsula Borough is not exempt from this trend, and we, as a family, community, district, state and nation need to do all we can to halt this trend and raise our children to be healthy, happy kids who can run and play comfortably and grow into healthy adults.

With three children in three schools of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, I am aware of the school lunch menu and the foods sold a la carte during the school lunch periods in our schools. I am appalled by the a la carte foods sold, and although the school district is well aware that the majority of these foods do not comply with their own nutrition standards (AR 5141.6), the district continues to sell them.

The people who can make a change and get these foods removed from the schools are our principals. Several principals in the Homer area schools have pulled these foods from our schools lunch periods already, and the others need to hear from you as parents.

I encourage you to visit your children's school lunchroom and see what is being sold. Talk with your principals and ask them to remove foods that are not promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity. We, as adults, are responsible for the nutritional education and health of our children. Our schools need to take responsibility as well, doing everything possible to educate children on nutrition and ensure that our schools are not contributing to the negative health of the students they serve.

Karin Sonnen