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How healthy is your child's school?
That's the question Globe reporters Caroline Alphonso and André Picard have been investigating, looking at everything from nutrition to exercise to air and water quality in an exclusive survey of Canada's schools.
In Saturday's Globe, they explored the nutritional wasteland that, unfortunately, is the cafeteria at most schools.
On Monday, they look at the sedentary nature of schools. Even as the problem of childhood obesity grows, the reality is that kids go to school and sit.
Tuesday, they'll tackle the poor air and water quality that plague too many of our nation's schools.
Mr. Picard and Ms. Alphonso kindly agreed to join us online to answer questions from readers about their series. Your questions and their replies appear at the bottom of this page.
Ms. Alphonso got her journalism degree from Ryerson University in 2000, then joined The Globe's Vancouver bureau. Following that, she was an investment reporter in Report on Business. Ms. Alphonso has been the Globe's education reporter since January, 2003.
Mr. Picard has written extensively on public health issues and has been honoured by many bodies for his outstanding work over the years. He has been nominated for National Newspaper Awards in beat reporting for his work on such stories as the impact of the SARS outbreak on nurses; the dangers to young hockey players from body-checking; and the health effects of trans fatty acids. He has also been honoured numerous times by the Pan American Health Organization's Centennial Journalism award program, the Canadian Nurses Association; and has won the Canadian Policy Research Media Award and a Michener Award. Mr. Picard, who is based in Montreal, was on the forefront of reporting on Canada's tainted blood crisis in 1992, going on to write hundreds of stories about the men who died. He wrote On The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy about this low point in Canada's health care history.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Rebecca Dube, globeandmail.com: Welcome, and thanks to Mr. Picard and Ms. Alphonso for joining us today. We have lots of questions from readers about their healthy schools series, so we'll get right to it.
Michael Kowalsky from Quebec writes: I work at a high school and see daily the low-quality lunches complacently served to and reluctantly consumed by the students. In what way can an educator agitate to have menu options broadened, or in some cases narrowed, to include more healthy options and eliminate some "meals" like poutine?
André Picard: I think the key word in your question is "complacency." A lot of bad food is served in schools because it is simply not seen as a priority. You often hear school administrators provide the excuse: "If we don't serve junk food here, the students will simply go up the street and eat it." That is a cop-out. The evidence exists that if school cafeterias serve healthy foods, most students will happily eat that food.
Caroline Alphonso: Thanks for your question, Michael. It certainly does take a lot of work to remove junk food from schools. Students will easily gravitate to the poutine if that is what's being sold in the cafeteria. If you want to change the menu, I would suggest getting the parent community involved. I have found that when parents and teachers lobby to remove the junk food from schools, a lot can be accomplished. That's what happened at Port Williams Elementary in Nova Scotia, a school I visited. Parents were unhappy with the food being sold to their children. They spoke with the principal and teachers, and then held a series of meetings to discuss changes to the menu. School officials will tell you that it's easier to make changes at the elementary-school level than in high school. But there's no harm in trying.
Jacqueline Kennedy from Toronto writes: I read the Saturday and Monday articles on school health. I agree that schools could be doing much more. However, what about the responsibility of parents in this discussion? Before children go to school, many eat sugary cereals then get put in the family vehicle to be driven, in many cases, just a few blocks to the local school. Twenty-five years ago the journey to and from school was made on foot or bicycle -- accounting for up to 40% of a child's daily physical activity.
