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While most parents are worried about what gets into kids' heads during a typical school day, some are also becoming increasingly concerned about what goes into their stomachs during lunch breaks as well.

Fortunately, national organizations like the School Nutrition Association are researching and providing information on school lunch programs across the country. Each year, the School Nutrition Association chooses one school district as the example for other school lunch programs, both in terms of nutrition and taste. This year, the honor goes to Fairfax County in Virginia, according to a recent report in the .

What Does a Healthy School Lunch Look Like?

There are many factors that go into assessing what a healthy school lunch looks like, according to . This organization, founded by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, has issued a number of recommended changes that they would like to see in school lunch programs, including:

• Offer vegan or vegetarian dishes daily as an option to other school lunch fare.
• Meet the nutritional needs of all children, including those that are lactose-intolerant, by offering calcium-rich, nondairy beverages at all meals.
• Include a variety of vegetable dishes, as well as fresh and dried fruits.
• Provide programs to teach healthy eating principles to food service staff, parents and students.

In addition to these criteria, the School Nutrition Association also looks at the financial and program management of a school district when determining the award recipients for the year.

Fairfax

Despite their attraction to many parents and educators today, some charter schools have received a bad rap for cherry-picking the best students in the area to provide the schools with top-notch performance scores. However, a number of recent studies have suggested that the students who benefit most from the charter school structure are not the privileged students after all. In fact, many low-income and minority students are also reaping the many advantages charter schools can offer.

What is a Charter School?

A charter school is funded with public money and offers an alternative to traditional public schools. In most cases, a private group of individuals submits a charter for approval, and they are then granted the ability to run their own school in exchange for promising improved academic results. Most charter schools are given a set period of time, ranging from three to five years, to prove themselves as a preferred academic institution. If the charter school does not perform up to expectations, the charter may be pulled and the school closed down.

Charter schools have become a popular option for many parents and students today, primarily due to the alternative choice charters offer. Because the schools have greater influence from teachers and parents, the curriculum can often be structured around the specific needs of the students in the school. This might explain why charter schools are a particularly viable option for students in low-income or high-minority areas, where kids might need a

Most parents would agree that breakfast is essential to a successful school day. The majority have applauded schools' efforts to supply breakfast to children who wouldn't get a morning meal otherwise. However, questions have been raised about the quality of the meals offered, leading some districts to change their breakfast menus.

Going Healthy in D.C.

According to the , D.C. schools will be among the first to stop offering sugar-laden cereals and flavored milk in their cafeterias. The milk will change during the summer term, and the schools hope to open their new school year, offering healthier cereal choices to students. DCPS spokeswoman Jennifer Calloway told the Post that the system's "goal for this upcoming school year is to serve cereals with six grams of sugar or less."

Calloway added that the district would be taste-testing a variety of low-sugar alternatives to determine the selections that would be healthy and tantalizing to students' taste buds. According to , the district was notorious for offering sugary selections like Apple Jacks, Raisin Bran, and Pop-Tarts, in addition to flavored milk that contains nearly as much sugar as a can of soda. When kids combine the flavored milk with other sugar-packed selections, they might start their day with as much as 60 grams or 15 teaspoons of sugar – before school begins!

The school district recently hired former restaurateur Jeffrey Mills as Director of Food Services for D.C. Public Schools

Gatorade has long been touted as the sports drink of the American athlete, from the traditional dunking of the pro football coach after a victory to professional NBA players making appearances in Gatorade commercials. Beverages are popular in school vending machines today, particularly since soda has been removed from most of the hallowed halls of secondary academia.

However, if these beverages really good for you, why are more lawmakers pushing to have them banned from school along with the caramel-colored, carbonated counterparts?

Bidding Farewell in California?

According to a recent report in the L.A. Times, the state senate in California and the Assembly's Education Committee recently passed SB1255 to remove Gatorade and other sugar-laden sports drinks from schools. The bill, originally introduced by former bodybuilder and current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, will next go to the Assembly Health Committee for approval.

Why the attack on seemingly innocent and colorful sports beverages? It turns out these drinks boast a powerful punch of sugar and sodium, which may counter the potential health benefits for most children. Despite the abundance of electrolytes in the formulas, these beverages can also contribute to the obesity problem in this country, and they may even raise the risk of high blood pressure issues in younger patients, thanks to the high sodium content.

This video explains how sports drinks are loaded with sugar that kids just don’t need when they get out and play.

With concerns over the state of our educational system today, it seems there is yet another worry to add to the list: the safety of drinking water in schools. Recent reports of unsafe tap water in school districts across the country are alarming parents and school officials alike. Safeguarding our children's health now involves tuning into the potential dangers lurking in school plumbing systems.

AP Investigation

Late last year, the Associated Press released the findings of an investigation they launched over the safety of school drinking water from coast to coast. This investigation found that contaminants have appeared in drinking water at schools in all 50 states, according to a report on .

Unfortunately, the problem of safe drinking water has not been properly monitored by the government. This has allowed many school districts to run contaminated water through their systems for years completely unchecked. The responsibility for ensuring safe water is spread thin among a variety of local, state and federal agencies, limiting accountability and consistent standards.

"It's an outrage," Virginia Tech engineer Marc Edwards told CBS. "If a landlord doesn't tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail. But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?"

The AP study found the majority of problems were present at schools with wells, which is about 8-11% of the schools across the country. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency also showed