Flavored Milk Ban on Santa Monica-Malibu School Board Agenda

The Board of Education tonight could take the first step toward banning flavored milk in the . The issue is on the board's agenda as a discussion item.

A group of parents and teachers approached the board about banning flavored milk at a meeting in June. An demanding the ban had received 474 signatures as of Wednesday morning. The LAUSD recently banned flavored milk.

"In light of the recent interest in removing flavored milks from school meals and assessing whether this would be an appropriate decision for the SMMUSD, Food and Nutrition Services has surveyed districts in California as well as other states, we have accumulated position statements on this topic from respected health agencies and collected research data on the long-term effects on student growth and development if flavored milk were to be eliminated," the district staff report states.  

The research information is not included in the staff report, but the report states staff will present the information to the board at the meeting.

The flavored milk offered at lunch in the SMMUSD does not contain fat, according to the staff report. Those demanding the ban claim flavored milk contains too much sugar.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the SMMUSD headquarters, located at 1651 16th St. in Santa Monica.

This article was originally published on Malibu Patch.