The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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August 29, 2009

JWP controlling sugary drinks

By Brian Ojanpa

JANESVILLE — Sugared soda has gotten the shaft in Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton school vending machines.

The move to stock machines with only “diet” pops and other beverages bereft of sugar and caffeine is part of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a nationwide initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Other schools are doing similarly, but at JWP pop machine revenues are earmarked solely for student council use and have been netting about $2,000 a year.

JWP High Principal Michael Meihak said the money has been used to help fund publication of student handbooks, class trips, prom and other activities.

It will still be used for those purposes, he said, though revenues figure to dip if students can’t buy the likes of non-diet Mountain Dew and other popular but banned beverages.

Meihak said that because students likely will bring in their sodas of choice on the sly, the ouster of sugary drinks from the machines may be cosmetic symbolism at the expense of common sense — and cents.

“We’re painting a nice picture,” Meihak noted wryly.

The ban does not prohibit non-diet beverages from being sold at concession stands during school events, in teachers lounges, and at other school activities where parents and other adults are present in significant numbers.

Mankato Area Public Schools voluntarily removed non-diet drinks from machines a couple of years ago.

“We’ve always been proactive on this,” said Jerry Kolander, director of business affairs for the school district.

Kolander said because pop machine profits go into the school district’s general fund, revenue losses have been negligible.

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