Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series looking at childhood obesity and what schools are doing to combat the growing problem.

School lunch programs across the country are getting a closer look thanks to a press release from Mission: Readiness.

While many have taken the release as a personal attack on school lunches, claiming the retired military personnel who have released the report cite school lunches as a national security threat, area school systems are thankful for the attention it is drawing to child nutrition.

“This is a group of movers and shakers,” said Chuck Graham, assistant superintendent of Surry County Schools, of Mission: Readiness. “These are recommendations we could support whole-heartedly. But this can’t be another unfunded mandate.”

According to the report, entitled “Too Fat to Fight,” from the group of more than 130 retired admirals, generals and other senior military leaders, more than nine million young adults, around 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24, are too overweight to join the military.

In conducting research for this report, the group members found that up to 40 percent of children’s daily calorie intake occurs at school. Taking that fact into consideration, they recommended improving school nutrition as a way to combat childhood obesity. The report further asks Congress to implement a child nutrition bill that would remove the remaining junk food and high-calorie beverages from schools, support a proposed $1 billion per year in funding for child nutrition programs and help develop strategies to encourage students to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

“I’m grateful. I’m appreciative of this group,” said Sherri Parks, child nutrition director for Surry County Schools. “The children are with us 50 percent of the time.”

The proposed $1 billion in funding would allow school systems to improve nutrition standards and upgrade the quality of meals served in schools. Because healthier food options are more expensive than the less-healthy alternatives, child nutrition programs constantly struggle against the bottom line and an attempt to break even with expenditures. Even the proposed $1 billion may not be enough to fund a complete turn-around.

“With healthier foods, there is an increased cost. Our funding is very minimal,” said Elke Atkins, child nutrition director for Mount Airy City Schools. “Maybe this negative press will stem them to give us more funding. Right now it’s a balancing act.”

Local officials also were quick to point out that it is not only the children who are struggling with the issue of obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control Web site, more than half of U.S. adults are considered overweight.

“Our adults aren’t eating school meals so why are they overweight?” said Atkins. “With childhood obesity, school nutrition is only one piece of the puzzle.”

Still, if a revolution can begin at the school level, officials feel that it will spread to the homes as students encourage their parents to lead healthier lifestyles and provide healthier meals.

“You’ve got to educate the children. It’s got to become a choice. Until it becomes a habitual thing it’s an uphill battle,” said Graham.

With the proposals from this group getting national attention, it is possible that Congress will be forced to take some sort of action regarding child nutrition, especially considering the fact that the Child Nutrition Act is up for renewal this year. The Child Nutrition Act was signed into law in 1966 after years of success by the National School Lunch Program, which was passed by Congress in 1946 also as a matter of national security.

“They’ve targeted a place where they can realistically make a change,” said Graham of Mission: Readiness’ movement to target child nutrition.

“Childhood obesity is now undermining our national security, and we need to start turning it around today,” said Brig. Gen. Clara Adams-Endler in the group’s press release. “For the sake of our national security, we call on Congress to pass a strong child nutrition bill this year.”

Until new legislation is passed by Congress, area school systems continue to try to provide nutrition options for students with the limited federal funding they receive. Child nutrition programs receive no state funding. Eighty-five of the 115 school child nutrition programs in the state are operating in the red, meaning they lose money yearly.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.