Donnell Barton Quotations

We felt like a statewide policy would create a more consistent policy across the state. We will all be moving in the same direction. We realize that this is not an easy thing for folks to change. It's going to take a while.

Because of the sugar, no carbonated beverage, no soda can be sold to the kids. If the school chooses to have a soda machine, they can do that as long as the kids don't have access to it 30 minutes before the school day and 30 minutes after the school day.

Most of them (school districts) are doing it as a district-wide policy and they anticipate having their plans approved in April, May or June.

We wanted to help create a healthy environment for students and help them learn healthy behaviors. A cookie is not bad for you, but if you have three cookies for lunch, it is not a good thing.

We did not write any punishment or punitive damages into the policy. Hopefully, we won't have to do that.

We will be checking on the school wellness policies as well.

Thirty or 40 years ago, we thought smoking was a fine thing to do. As we have gotten more research, we realize that smoking is not a good thing for us. We realize that obesity is not a good thing for us. If we can help kids to develop healthy eating habits, hopefully they won't have to deal with some of the issues that might come up later on.

They are better able to focus on their studies in the afternoon.