Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter
Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter
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CAT Tracks for March 17, 2006
BUNCHA JUNK |
From the Chicago Sun-Times...
Ban on junk food at schools starts this fall
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter
As of next fall, there'll be no more Pepsi and Fritos, Coca-Cola and Cheetos, because the Illinois State Board of Education on Thursday gave Gov. Blagojevich the ban he wanted on junk food in Illinois elementary and middle schools.
Also at its monthly meeting, the board declined to take action against a testing company that flubbed deadlines set in its $45 million contract, jeopardizing state testing for hundreds of thousands of Illinois elementary students, even as board members worried about potential for a repeat in the looming statewide testing for Illinois high school students.
Governor pushed for removal
The junk-food ban was sought by the governor, who urged the board last fall to adopt it to help fight childhood obesity. Board members approved by a 7-2 vote the measure, which takes effect next school year and bans the sale of soda, chips and candy before and during the school day for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
''Good nutrition helps children attend school more regularly, behave better when they're in school, and score better on tests,'' Blagojevich said afterward. ''But despite the obvious reasons to eat healthy, for children, the temptation to eat junk food can just be too great.''
The board's action came despite complaints from local school officials that vending machine sales provide critical funds to cash-strapped school districts.
Originally, the proposal included high schools, but they were exempted.
''We don't want to impose burdensome rules on districts, but we do want them to make this a priority in the lives of their students,'' board chairman Jesse Ruiz said in supporting the measure.
In disagreeing, board member Dean Clark said, "Local elected school boards should be making the decision.''
Exam provider grilled
Board members later spent nearly two hours grilling officials of Harcourt Assessment over its failure to deliver the Illinois Standards Achievement Test on time to the state's 870 school districts last month. That left many districts who were to give the test between March 13 and March 31 still awaiting testing materials.
Also, many delivered materials had misprints, pages out of order and missing or duplicate sections.
As of Thursday, 4 percent of school districts, including some Chicago public schools, still awaited weeks-overdue materials for this year's tests.
But despite stringent language characterizing Harcourt's failures at a press conference last week, State Supt. Randy Dunn declined to recommend termination of the clout-heavy firm's contract.
"I'm not trying to let us off the hook for the harm and the damage we've done to the students and to the teachers. We let ourselves down and let you down," Harcourt CEO Pat Tierney said, detailing preventive measures the company is taking to regain confidence.
"I'm telling you, if it doesn't work for the [Prairie State Assessment Exams], you don't want to show your faces in Illinois again," warned board member Joyce Karon, one of two ISBE members who were on the board in September 2004 when Harcourt sealed the lucrative contract by hiring John Wyma, a lobbyist with ties to Blagojevich.
