Victory! Los Angeles School District Lets Jamie Oliver Help

by Sarah Parsons · 2011-05-05 06:30:00 UTC
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Jamie Oliver's second season of Food Revolution may have been filmed in Los Angeles, but there was one group in the city that refused to participate in the reality show — the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Until now, that is.

Tinseltown's new superintendent, John Deasy, and Oliver seem to have bridged the gap between the city's public schools and the Food Revolution. Deasy recently agreed to take a meeting with Oliver, and he even gave the celebrity chef a tour of the LAUSD's central kitchen, where many of the city's school lunches are prepared. Then last week, the duo unveiled an even bigger partnership: Deasy and Oliver appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and announced that they would work together to phase out sugary, flavored milks from Los Angeles' public school cafeterias.

The move is a huge win for Los Angeles students. Flavored milks oftentimes contain more sugar than a can of soda, and with more than one-third of America's kids weighing in as obese or overweight, calorie-packed milks are the last thing children need with their lunches and breakfasts.

But the flavored milk ban isn't the only victory here. For months, LAUSD refused to participate in Oliver's Food Revolution, warning the celeb chef that he couldn't even talk to students about school lunch. Improving school lunch is one of the main goals of Food Revolution, and many concerned citizens were understandably upset at the LAUSD's decision to box Oliver out.

Change.org members were no exception: More than 2,500 people signed our petition asking the LAUSD to reconsider its decision about not participating with Food Revolution, and another 232 members petitioned Superintendent Deasy once he took office in April. Our members weren't the only people vocally opposed to the LAUSD's decision, but our voices certainly helped push district officials to work with Oliver.

The LAUSD still has to approve the decision to ban flavored milks in the city's school cafeterias, but with Deasy's support, most expect district officials to vote favorably. Thanks to all the folks who helped push the LAUSD to work with Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution!

Photo credit: sentxd via Flickr

Sarah Parsons is Change.org's Sustainable Food Editor. Her work has appeared in Popular Science, OnEarth, Audubon and Plenty.

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