Who mourns for the potato chip man?

Students at a Moose Jaw, Sask., high school who are upset about a junk-food ban, that's who.

Business is down in Moose Jaw thanks to the school system's healthy food policy, Darrell McDougall says.
(CBC)

Fifteen-year-old Peacock High School student Ashley Isbister recently circulated a petition that collected more than 300 signatures calling on the school to reverse its ban on pop, chips, chocolate bars and other junk food sold in vending machines and school concession stands.

When school started last month, all those treats were gone from the premises.

"A lot of students are upset the school board's taken away our choice," said Isbister, who presented the petition to the school board Tuesday.

"We're not allowed to choose any more what we want to eat."

Students are still getting their junk food from nearby convenience stores, anyway, Isbister added.

School officials say making their facilities more nutritious is part of a growing trend.

But one adult sympathetic to what the students are doing is Darrell McDougall, who used to keep the schools supplied with potato chips and other snacks. Now, he said, the schools are no longer happy to see his brightly coloured truck with the Lays chips logo.

 "They've gone the healthy choice," McDougall said. "It taken a big chunk out of the business I do. It kind of hurts."

Sandi Kitts, a school superintendent, said the schools are trying to align their practices with what they're telling students.

"We are teaching it in many of our classrooms, yet offering junk food in our concession," she said.

While the school board in Moose Jaw is planning to make every school's menu junk-food free by next June, it said it will take the student's petition seriously.

The students are expected to get an answer late this month or in November.