By Traci Newell

Due to changes in federal and state law this year, the Los Altos School District has adopted its first food and wellness policy.

The wellness policy, which the district board of trustees adopted in June, sets goals for physical activity and nutrition education, and guidelines for all food and beverages served on campus.

The policy stems from federal and state mandates. President Bush signed the Child Nutrition and Women, Infants, Children Reauthorization Act into law in 2004. It requires all school districts participating in any federally funded child nutrition program to establish a locally developed food and wellness policy by the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year.

In addition to the federal act, two new state laws limiting unhealthful items from school campuses went into effect July 1. Senate Bill 12 requires rigorous nutrition limits on fat, sugar and portion sizes for all foods served on campus for grades K-12, except those offered through the federal meal program.

Senate Bill 965 eliminates half of the soda and other sweetened beverages from high school and junior high campuses by July and requires the districts to eliminate their accessibility altogether within two years.

Patty Boettcher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the district formed a committee that met during the last school year dealing with the requirements of each bill.

Students in the district can choose to bring their own sack lunches, participate in the federal lunch program for qualifying families or purchase lunches provided by the local PTA.

“Unlike most other districts,” Boettcher said, “kids chose to buy lunches that are sponsored through the PTA.”

The hot lunch programs, sponsored by parents involved in the local PTAs, provide student lunches from local vendors such as Chef Chu’s, Sumo Sushi and KFC. The hot lunch meals also include juice, fresh fruit and the occasional dessert.

“They work so hard to get food that kids are going to like and offer variety and well-balanced meals,” Boettcher said. “But we have never counted the calories of each meal.”

The new Senate bills have required the committee, which drew up the food and wellness policy for the district, to examine the nutritional and caloric breakdowns of the hot lunch menus. The bills include specific requirements, such as no more than 175 calories for each item served, no more than 10 percent of a snack’s total calories from saturated fat and no more than 400 calories and 4 grams of fat per 100 calories for entrée items.

This summer the district has assigned a parent to study the menus and identify which meet the new standards and which need tweaking to meet the new requirements, Boettcher said.

“We still want to have lunch that kids will want to eat,” she said. “We will find a way to still make it palatable and still very good for the kids.”