Jill Wynns for School Board
Improving school food
For a decade, Jill Wynns has been the driving force behind healthier school food for our schoolchildren.
- Jill was one of the nation's first school leaders to tackle the issue of junk food in schools.
- Jill wrote SFUSD's landmark Commercial Free Schools Act in 1999.
- Jill wrote SFUSD's groundbreaking Healthy School Nutrition and Physical Exercise policy in 2003.
- Jill pushed to open the Bay Area's first Grab n Go breakfast program in 2005, at Balboa High School.
- Jill helped the SFUSD get $500,000 from the city to start expanding school salad bars from a three-school pilot to middle and high school cafeterias districtwide.
- Jill worked with the SF Food Bank and Department of Children, Youth and their Families to expand the summer feeding program, bringing healthy meals to SF kids.
- Jill will push for a local permanent revenue stream to help pay for the higher cost of the better quality food our students deserve.
Jill understands that every complaint students have about school food, from "It's not enough to fill me up" to "It doesn't taste fresh" or "It costs too much" can all be addressed only with increased funding. The money the federal and state governments provide for school meals is not sufficient to cover the cost of running meal programs in a high cost of living area like San Francisco.
Other districts like Berkeley are able to do scratch cooking using sustainably grown produce because they receive additional funding which SFUSD does not get; this is because Berkeley and some other communities have a history of being willing to tax themselves to provide local money for better school food. San Francisco must start to do the same.
History of Jill's involvement
In 1999, Jill wrote the Commercial-Free Schools Act to make sure that advertising and commercialism are banned in San Francisco schools, including all ads for junk food and soda. This is the SFUSD policy most often requested by others.
- Read the Commercial Free Schools Act here
- Read what the Center for Commercial Free Public Education said about the Commercial Free Schools Act here
- Read an article Jill wrote about advertising in schools for Advertising Age here
- Jill is quoted in the New York Times on commercialism in schools here
In 2003, Jill wrote the landmark Healthy School Nutrition and Physical Exercise policy. This program puts San Francisco schools at the forefront of the movement to serve healthy food in schools and to educate our students and families about the value of healthy food. The country's strictest junk food and soda ban is included.
- Read the Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity policy here
- Read what the Chronicle said about the policy here
In 2005, Jill pushed the district to open the first Grab n Go breakfast program in the Bay Area, at Balboa High School. The Grab n Go is designed to encourage more students to start the day with a nutritious meal. At first Balboa doubled, and in the second year tripled, its school breakfast participation as a result of the program, and Grab n Go will operate at four high schools in 2008-09.
In 2007, Jill helped the SFUSD get $500,000 from the Department of Children Youth and their Families to help expand the successful salad bar piloted in 2006-07 at three district schools. By the end of 2008-09, a salad bar will be open at every middle and high school.
- Read what the Chronicle said about the salad bars here
- Watch Jill talk about the salad bars here
Keep the Experience We Need for Our Schools
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