OPENCAMPUSLUNCHPOLICYDECISION- MAKERS

1 1 OfftheMap:ExtracurricularSchoolFoodOpenC ampusLunc hBYMA R LOR . MI U R A,M A ,JDPU B L ICH E A LT HA DVO C AC YI N S T I T U T EThi s br ief addresses op en or of f campus pol iciesth at all owhig h school studentsto go off campus topu rchaseand eat foodduringthe ir lu bri ef hi ghl ig hts is sue s re latedto op en campuspol icie s an d com pl ements thesep ara teLegal Notes :Open Ca mpus Lun ch, whic h highli ghtssome of thele galissues rel atedto offcampus lu nchandthecre -ationof ef fec tiv e pol ic y addressing th is ma tte issue brief andthelegalno teswi ll hel p youcraf t you r ow n Po tterBo x a decis io n- makingmatri x thatprovidesa legalan d so ci al frameworkandhel ps identify ke y legalacce ss po in ts directedto wardsreaching you r pol icy is br ie f defines an openor off ca mpuspol icyasone th at allowsselect or all st udents to lea ve campusduring th e lunch period to purchase or consume foodan d beve ra ges.

2 Therefore, a scho ol wit h a modified pol icy th at on ly allows cer ta in student s wh o meetsp ecifie d requirem ent s to go off cam pusis consideredto ha ve an openca mpuspolicy. Thisbr ief definesaclos ed cam puspo licyas one th at do es not allo w anyst ude nts to leavecam pusduring lun ch or any ot hertimeduring the scho ol da y. Th e fo cusof thi s bri ef ison high sc hoo ls , alth ough researc h and dat a thatexte nd to element ar y and mid dlesch ool studentswere eva luated in preparatio n of thisbr CAM PUS LU NCH POLI CY DEC ISI ON-MAK ERSOpen an d clos ed campus pol ici es can be set at th esta te level by a state boa rd of ed ucat ionor by thesta te s educ at ioncod e.

3 Typi cal ly, pol ic ie s are set atthe dist ri ct lev el by the sc ho ol dis tr ic t boar d. Thedist ri ct can cr eate bas e guideli nesest ab li sh in g anope n campus, bu t it ca n ad dit ional ly al lo w the pr in -cipal at ea ch sc hool the au thor it y to make pro vis io nsor deci de under cer tai n ci rc umst an ceswhe the r ornot to allo w of f ca mpus pri vi le ge s. In Cal if ornia , fo rinsta nce, the Stockt on Unif iedScho ol Dis tr ict boar dpol icy makes det ai ledprovi sion s fo r ope n cam pus esbut giv es the school pr in cip al the power to co m-ple te ly cl osecam pu s if the re are speci fi c reaso ns todo so. In ad diti onto bo ar d mem be rs , th e su pe ri n-ten dentis a ke y dec is io n-mak er becaus e he or shemust imple ment the board s pol ic ies.

4 Off cam puspol icie s can alsobe se t at th e sch oollev el by thepri ncip al . Seeleg al not es ,Sc hool Struct ure, Pow er,and Resp on si bil it y: From St ate La ws to High Sc ho olHandbooks, for ad ditional in fo rm at io ca mpus lunch lawsan d pol ici es do notexi stin a vacuum. Pol icy goals, communi ty su pp ort,andspe ci fi c si tu ati onalfactsmust be tak en intoconsidera -ti onor thelawor pol icy canbe rendereduseless,harm fu l, or ign AND CLOSE D CAM PUSES BY THENUMBER SHigh schoolsten d to ha ve unhealthier sc hoolfoodenvi ronmentsthanel em entarysch ool s. Open andclos ed schoolcampus pol ici es ha ve th e potential toaff ectstu dents health,saf ety, andsecuri ty, as we ll asto inf luence theschoolenvironmen t itsel f in theseCo pi es ofLegalNotes.

5 OpenCampusLunch,MappingSchoolFood, and ot her rela ted materi als are availableon th e PublicHeal thAdvo cacy Ins tit ute we bsite more on Pot ter Boxe s, plea se revi qui ck primer,PotterBoxesataGlance, is also providednear theend of th is bri althPol ic ie s andProgramsStudyshowedthatnationwide entof highschool districtsan d rcentof hi gh schoolsha daclos ed campu s pol ic y wherestudents coul d notlea vecam pu s during lu nchor at anyother time duringtheschool day(com pared ,re sp ective ly , in 2000).This is si mi la r to a findingofabout25 pe rc entof hi gh schools having opencam-pu sesobtainedin spri ng 2005by th e thi rd SchoolNu tritionDie taryAs sessment Study(SNDA-III).

6 Pe rcentagescanvaryby stateandstu 2003survey of Cal if ornia hi gh sc hools found that46per centhadopen campuse s, th e sam e as it foundin its 2000su rve co nducteda sma ll , inf ormal su rve y withpeopl ewho pr ovi dedinput forMa ppin g Scho ol Foodan d wh oim pactth e sch oo l foo d environme nt in Arkansas,Ca li fo rni a, Massachusetts,andMi ssi ss ip pi. Wealsore vie wedno tesfr ominterviews co nductedin 2007inpreparationforMa ppin g Sc hoo l Fo od. Theresults ofth e sur veyarean ecdotal evi dence to enhancethisbriefandcannotbe generali littl e under one fif th ofth osesu rve ye d sta tedthatthesch ool or districttheywor ke d withhadan op en campus poli cy.

7 Somedidnot have open cam pusesbecaus e th ey worked prima-rily withyou ngerstu dentsno t yet in hi gh DEN T HE AL TH , NU TRI TI ON , EAT INGPAT TER NS, AND SCH OOLFOO DThe sc hoolen vir on me nt is an important spherein thede ve lop mentof di etary be havior. Policymakersshoul dcraf t schoolfoodla ws or rul es thatencourageheal th -ie r op tio ns while res trictingun healthier oul d assessop en ca mpus lunch pol ic ies becaus eth esepoli ci es canaf fe ct pol ic y goals re gardingtheschool foo d en vir on me re is a st rong li nk be tween a stu de nt s di et arybehavio r an d hi s or he r ri sk of be coming ov erwei ght.

8 Studentssh oul d ea t le ss lo w- nu tri en t, en ergy-densefoods an d be ve rag es andmorefru it s, vege tab le s, andlow- or no- fat mil k. A st udyof Minne sotasec ondaryschool student s fo un d a strong li nk bet ween freq uencyof eati ng fastfoo d and p oor er foo d ch oi ces, re su lt ingin mo re fattyandsu garyfo od s andle ss fruit s, veg -etab les, andmi lk consumed. Most of th osewesurv ey ed fe lt thatfoo d an d be ve rages obtai ne d th roughconcess io n sta nds, fu nd rai ser s, school stores, andoffcampus lun ch per iod s we re unh eal thy , an d ov er hal fbel ie ve d tha t stu de ntswou ld purchase hea lth ie r foodsif they wereav ai lab le.

9 The y thought tha t most of th ei rstuden ts who bo ught fo od andbev era gesnear ca mpusdid so at ch ain fas t fo od esta bli shmen ts an d mini-martswi th prep are d fo ods. Dependingon whatisof fer ed in thecafeteria and sch ool,closing thecampusfor lunchcould elim inatethefastfoodop ti on andhe lpst ren gthen good fo od ch bsi di ze d by feder al programs mustcomplywith ce rtain nutri ti onregulati on s andgenerall y arecal led programfo ods,while all othersch oolfoodgen-eral ly ca n be conside rednon-programor competi tiv efoods. Fo r moreinformati on,se eMap ping Sc hoo lFood, particu larl yAp pend ix : Fed era l Scho ol Mea lPr ogram sandits Legal Pr actiti oner s Poi tedStatesDepartmentof Agri cul tu re sSNDA-IIIfou ndthatstu dentswhoparti ci patedin theNationalSch oo l Lun ch Program (NSLP) weremoreli ke ly toconsumefr uit s, vege tab le s, andmi lk.

10 Co rre sp ondi ng ly ,non-pa rti cip an ts we re more lik el y to consu mesn ac ks ,dess er ts, andbev era gesli ke sodas duri ng the lunc hper iod . Pol icy changesthatres tri ctednon-programfoods, meaning foodobtainedthrough sch oolstores,snackbars,and la carteop ti ons,resultedin a reduc-ti onof sugar-sweetened be ve ragesconsumed bymiddl e andhi gh schoolyouth. Cl osedhi gh schoolcam pu sesal so werelinkedto an increasein eati ngvege tables. However , theseini ti al anal ysesfromtheda tasetcol le ctedduring the2004 2005scholasticyear must be takenintoconside rationwi th onefinding of nostrongassociati onbe tween schoolfoodpol ici es andhi gh schoolstu dents obesity ri nti nuedres earchintothi s ri ch datasetis ne cessaryto cl ari fy andfurtherinf ormthesean licymakers should explore if cl os ing campuse sfor lunch wi ll impro ve healthi er cho ices andeatinghabi ts.