Schools Ban Soft Drinks, Lose Thousands in Funds

(Seattle, Washington) Tens of thousands of dollars in activity fund revenue has vaporized with the decision by the Seattle School Board to ban soft drinks and junk food.

From The Seattle Times:

By canceling an exclusive vending contract with Coca-Cola, the Seattle district will lose an estimated $315,000 this school year. Individual high schools are losing up to $25,000 each, while some middle schools are losing more than $10,000.

[ ... ]

"It's going to devastate us. It's going to absolutely devastate us," said Rainier Beach Athletic Director Dan Jurdy, who also used to be the school's activity coordinator. Jurdy said he quit his activity role last spring partly because he was so discouraged by the looming cutbacks. The football program, too, faces reductions. The school relied on the Coke money to buy uniforms, helmets and padding which cost hundreds of dollars per player, he said. He's not even sure how the school will afford travel to the state tournament.

Jurdy suggested the school save $5,000 by axing the yearbook, which typically loses money.

No football, no yearbook, and what you find in the vending machines is bottled water and rice cakes. Understandably, if a student was toying with the idea of dropping out of school, it would be hard to dispute the contention that this latest leftist social policy sealed the deal.

From the perspective of an Interested-Participant, it appears the Seattle School Board is more concerned about the contents of vending machines than the contents of students' minds.