The United States Department of Agriculture’s newly-implemented school nutrition program has taken effect at BHS.

The Smart Snacks in Schools program, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, was announced in June 2013.

However, the rules did not kick in for the state of Ohio until July 1 of this year, when the Ohio Department of Education adopted the federal regulations.

“Any food that’s being sold to students [during school hours] has to meet a set of requirements,” student activities coordinator Craig Alexander said.

According to a memo the Ohio Department of Education sent to participating schools, the rules pertain to all schools partaking in the National School Lunch Program, a federally-assisted meal program providing healthy, free or low-cost lunches to children in public schools.

“Whatever the law says, we follow,” Principal Ed Klein said.

“The rule is intended to bring a nationwide focus to the types of foods and beverages that may be sold throughout the school campus during the defined ‘regular school day,’” according to the ODE memo.

A regular school day, as defined by the USDA, is “the period from midnight before, to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day.”

For BHS, this means that fundraisers selling non-compliant food cannot be held until 3:10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

“The only exemption defined is interscholastic sporting events that [occur] during the school day,” the ODE’s statement said. In other words, concession stand sales at athletic events during school hours do not need to comply with the new standards.

Multiple students interviewed said they would not wait for a half hour after the school day to purchase food from a fundraiser.

Klein said club advisers and members are now determining how to best comply with regulations while still raising funds for their organizations.

“I can’t speak for the advisers,” Klein said. “They’ve got to look at [the] problem in a different way now with their respective organizations.”

Caroline Stern, Student Council Executive Board President, and Maya Peleg, Class of 2015 President, confirmed that the regulations make fundraising more difficult.

For instance, the once-popular Wednesday morning breakfast fundraisers, which Peleg said would usually bring in $50 to $60 weekly, are now off the table. Student Council members are concerned that the new regulations will make it harder to raise funds.

“It’s just putting a big damper on profits for our class,” Peleg said.

Nevertheless, Stern said she isn’t discouraged.

“I like to look at it as the glass is half-full,” Stern said. “Now we need to come up with more ideas. Kids need to be more proactive and creative in ways to produce revenue.”

According to a USDA memo to participating schools, the new regulations are designed to build upon the progress made in improving the quality of school lunches.

“The health of today’s school environment continues to improve. Students across the country are now offered healthier school lunches with more fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” the release said.

The USDA added that the program’s standards “will build on those healthy advancements and ensure that kids are only offered tasty and nutritious foods during the school day.”

Food sold in schools must be a “whole grain-rich” grain product, have a fruit, vegetable, dairy product or protein food as its “first ingredient,” or be a “combination food” that contains at least ¼ cup of fruit and/or vegetable.

If the food does not meet at least one of the aforementioned standards, it must contain 10% of one’s daily value of calcium, vitamin D, potassium or dietary fiber, the USDA said.

Alexander believes the program’s intention is to battle teenage obesity across the country.

“I don’t know that’s really an issue here at Beachwood, but it is [an] issue nationally,” he said.

“[The USDA is] trying to make sure that kids have healthy opportunities, rather than sugar-based opportunities,” Alexander said.

“I think that it’s important that we continue to teach kids how to make healthy choices,” Klein said.

The standards require that entrees have no more than 350 calories and 480 milligrams of sodium, while limits for snacks are a maximum of 200 calories and 230 milligrams of sodium.

There are also limits on levels of trans fat, total fat and saturated fat content.

Marketing teacher Greg Perry confirmed that Benny’s Spirit Shop sales have not been adversely affected by the new rules.

“Benny’s customers have found many new, exciting healthy alternatives,” Perry wrote in an email.

Student opinion of the regulations have been mixed.

“I’d rather someone … have a muffin for breakfast that might have too much sodium in it than somebody going the whole morning without eating breakfast,” Peleg said.

“And, if we can provide them that, then I feel like we should be allowed to,” she said of the breakfast fundraisers.

Stern echoed Peleg’s sentiments.

“I believe kids are, either way, going to bring in whatever food they want into the school,” Stern said. “The federal regulations aren’t going to stop them.”

“We might as well be able to … give them the food [they want to eat, whether it is nutritious or not,] that would provide a breakfast, instead of them just coming to school … with an empty stomach,” Stern said.

Sophomore Jeremy Gloger also had a take on the matter.

“Students should be healthy, but also should have a choice in what they want,” he said.” “I definitely think there should be a wide option [of foods].”

Others are concerned that the new regulations will make bake sale fund raisers more difficult.

“Bake sale traditions, not just for Student Council, but for many of our clubs, have been a source of revenue,” Stern said. “This is really not just affecting Student Council, but the majority of clubs at this school.”