Education Department Stands Fast On Limiting Students’ Milk Choices
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Standing by their decision to limit milk choices in school cafeterias despite a 10% drop in consumption, school officials say they are more concerned about diabetes than calcium deficiency.
Skim, 1%, and “choco-skim” will continue to be the only milk choices for city students under a policy instituted at the beginning of this year, the executive director of school food for the Department of Education, David Berkowitz, said yesterday during questioning by critics at a City Council hearing. The three options are offered five days a week at most schools, and no-fat chocolate milk is available only one to three days a week at 55 schools in the Bronx taking part in a pilot program.
“We find that diabetes is a bigger problem” than calcium deficiency, Mr. Berkowitz said. “There are other ways that kids can get their calcium.”
Critics worry that children’s calcium intake is suffering as a result of the milk choice cutbacks. Council Member William de Blasio called the 10% consumption drop “drastic” and demanded that the education department reverse the policy.
“It’s too much,” he said. “You have a year of data showing something went wrong.”
Mr. de Blasio and other milk advocates are calling on the schools to offer 1% chocolate milk and other flavored milks such as strawberry and vanilla throughout the week at every school. They said they are worried thirsty children who don’t like the milk options are turning more often to soda and other sugary beverages, possibly exacerbating the problem of obesity and diabetes instead of mitigating it.
A parent of two elementary school students that are genetically predisposed to diabetes, Griset Medina, 34, said she has noticed more children drinking sodas in her children’s school cafeteria, where she volunteers five days a week. Her children’s school is in the region with the pilot program.
“The kids are not drinking the milk,” she said. “I don’t want them to go back to whole milk, but … I think they’re taking it too drastic.”
Mr. Berkowitz said the department would continue to monitor milk consumption and that he expected the numbers to turn around as education and social marketing campaigns promoting healthy milk take hold among city children.
“We do want to see kids continue to drink milk,” he said. “We’re going to see their numbers climb.”
