Dist. 50 ponders safe-and-healthy snack policy

Woodland Elementary District's board president said he expects a beefed-up food policy will be enacted for students, but it might fall short of what was pursued by one parent.

Bruce Bohren, who heads the Gurnee-based Woodland District 50 board, said officials recognize the importance of addressing the potential problems certain foods pose for some pupils.

"More and more children have (food) allergies," Bohren said Monday, "and it's becoming a complicated issue."

Bohren said he expects an unnamed committee, led by Assistant Superintendent for Support Services Penny Dagley, to recommend adding more guidelines to an existing food policy. He said District 50 already has some rules regarding student food allergies, and selected classrooms are peanut-free.

However, parent Lisa Block of Gurnee has been pushing for more. She reiterated to the school board last week that a specific policy governing healthy and safe eating at school should be crafted.

"I was hoping they would just say, 'Let's make a policy and get it going,' " Block said.

At a minimum, Block said, Woodland should consider imitating what's been done in other local school systems. She pointed to Lake Zurich Unit District 95, which enacted a policy last year that targeted food brought in and meant for sharing by students and parents. Items must be nut-free and picked from a list of approved food and beverage choices.

As part of her pitch to Woodland, Block said the district should set pioneering standards that can be modeled by other school districts.

Block contends a strict food policy can lead to a reduction in fat and calorie consumption by children at school. She cites growing trends of childhood diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other health problems and the rise in food allergies.

Her second-grade son, Benjamin Block-Glickman, is fatally allergic to fish, peanuts, shellfish and tree nuts.

"Now, I find myself not only as an advocate for my own child," Block said in a letter to Woodland officials, "but also for the other children within the district. I don't want things that my son has gone through to happen to anyone else's child."

District 50 spokeswoman Jennifer Tempest Bova said the new, enhanced policies and procedures for students with life-threatening food allergies are expected to be set before the academic year starts next month. She said the goal is to have consistent guidelines at all Woodland schools.

Bohren said any altering of the district's food policy doesn't require board approval.