To the editor:

Our local school board’s tentative approval of a policy to control the pervasive availability of junk food in the schools is an excellent decision.

Publicly supported schools are zones where everything is part of the educational experience. Providing candies, Cokes, Twinkies, fries and chips, all the sweet and salty processed foods and drinks so addictive to young people, teach them that these foods are OK. But they are not OK. More and more evidence points to high-fructose corn syrup, excess salt, trans fats and bleached flour as major reasons why kids now have high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity in their teens and 20s.

We wouldn’t allow coffee machines or cigarette machines inside schools; so why the array of junk food 24/7?

And in the elementary schools, using sugary treats as rewards for achievement is an equally lousy idea; instead, that teaching moment could be used to show the kids something healthy and worthwhile.

I encourage the school board to move forward on this brave and thoughtful policy decision.

Pat Kehde,

Lawrence