Beginning tomorrow, students can no longer purchase the sweet beverages and snacks they often crave mid-day. Due to new federal health guidelines, the Trading Post will no longer open during lunch to provide the desired snacks.
This year, all Orange County schools must follow the “2015 Eat Smart Nutrition Standards,” which monitors the nutritional value of all food sold on school campuses.
“Last year, this policy was supposed to be in place. As the new guy, I was able to hold off this change,” Principal Dusty Johns said. “But this year, we couldn’t avoid this anymore. We needed to make this change.”
By district standard protocol, outside vendors, such as Boone High School Athletic Association, are not allowed to compete with cafeteria food sales. The cafeteria will continue to sell snacks and beverages that are within the health codes.
“Hopefully students will settle for eating the healthier food,” Johns said. “All the food has to meet national standards. We can sell Gatorade, but it has to be smaller and sugar-free. We can sell PopTarts, but they have to be whole-grain.”
Without the demand to keep the Trading Post open daily, it will only be open on select days, such as football game days and Open House night, where the Post will sell spirit attire. The exact schedule is still being determined.
“[No longer selling food] will not cause any major disruptions in the BHSAA finances,” Athletics Director Kevin Demer said. “We are actually putting together a BHSAA online store for athletic apparel and other related items that will cover any loss of food money. There were not many sales of the apparel during the school year, so this way, community members will have easier access to items that were normally only sold during lunches.”
Alongside the other changes on campus this upcoming year like the one-to-one initiative and no-cell-phone policy, the administration expects overall negative student reaction but positive outcomes.
“[Students] will be shocked and disappointed. I want them to realize change is a part of life. We needed to comply with a policy that we cannot change,” Johns said. ‘It is not the end of the world. If they want to still have unhealthy snacks, they will just need to bring them from home.”