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Testiinony
of
Aiclan
Kohn
Murphy,
June
1.1, 2011
TESTIMONY
OF
AIDAN
KOHN
MURPHY,
LAFAYETTEELEMENTARY,
GRADE
1
BEFORE
THE
D.C.
COUNCIL,
COMMITTEE
OF
THE
WHOLE,
YOUTH
ISSUES
11
JUNE
2011
Introduction
Hi,
I'm
Aidan Kohn
Murphy.
I'm seven years old and I'm at the end of
First
Grade. Igo to Lafayette Elementary. Thank you for letting me go in front of
you
today.
I'm
here
today
because
I want to get chocolate
milk
back in
DC
Public
Schools.
We
used to have chocolate
milk
in
DC
Public
schools. But then you passed a law
that
said
that
no kids in
DC
Public
Schools
could
buy chocolate
milk.
They
could
buy
only
white
milk.
Thank
you,
Council
members for trying to make kids healthy.
But,
the law isn't
working
in the way the
Council
wanted it to.
To
get ready for today,
1
went around asking lots of people questions at my school.
Me
and my mom put
all
the data
together.
We did a lot of research and
1
interviewed
a doctor.
And
we thought things over
a lot.
I
would
like
to say
three
things today:
1]
The law has not worked;
2)
If
you
just give chocolate
milk
back, kids might actually be healthier than
now:
chocolate
milk
can be healthy; and3) A lot of people in
DC
want chocolate
milk
back in the
DC
Public
Schools
The Law has Not Worked as
Intended
Here are the things I learned about my
first
point:
When
you passed this law, you were trying to keep kids healthy by getting then to
drink
white
milk
instead of
flavored
milk.
But the important thing I found is this:
Taking
away chocolate
milk,
surprisingly
enough
hasn't
made kids drink more white
milk!
It actually in many
cases
makes kids drink sugarier things.
As
you can see on my chart, the kids who used to buy chocolate
milk
are not
all
that
likely
now to drink white
milk
instead. They most are often substituting water.
Then
nothing. Then
juice.
And
then
finally
white
milk.
1
Testimony
i)f
Aidan Kohn
Murphy,
June
11,
2!)11
In
fact, since the new law was passed,
58% of
kids
who used to drink chocolate
milk
at school are no longer
drinking
any dairy product at
school.
They are missingout on
all
that
calcium
that
they used to get.
Kidscan
Stay
Healthy
while
Drinking
Chocolate
Milk
First
of
all,
there
are a lot healthy things about chocolate
milk.
It has
calcium
and
vitamins.
It's
true
- the chocolate can be unhealthy because it may have fat andmore sugar.
But,
they can make chocolate
milk
that
is low fat
with
less sugar.
In
fact, this type of chocolate
milk
has led
Fairfax
County to bring back chocolate
milk.
In
Fairfax
County
Virginia,
they took chocolate
milk
away and then they gave itback. They found a low fat, skimmed version of chocolate
milk
and it includes ahealthier
kind
of sugar.
D.C.
can have the same
kind
of healthier chocolate
milk.
And
medical experts
agree
that
chocolate
milk
can keep kids healthy.
I
interviewed a doctor and I asked her
"How
do you feel about kids
drinking
chocolate
milk
in
D.C.
Public
Schools?"
Her
answer was: "I think
that
chocolate
milk
is much
better
than
drinking
sodabecause it has protein and
calcium.
It has more
milk
than chocolate in
it...I
think
chocolate
milk
is medium healthy.
Calcium
and protein are good - but thesugar is not good.
Low
fat is
better
than high fat
milk."
Then
I asked her: "Is it
better
to drink chocolate
milk
or no
milk
at
all?"
She said:
"It's
better
to drink chocolate
milk."
I
also asked her:
"How
about chocolate
milk
compared to juice?"She said: "There is more real
food
in chocolate
milk
than in most
juice.
I thinkchocolate
milk
is probably
better
than the sugary sodas and the sugary drinks
like
Gatorade - but
skim
milk
is the
best.
I think
that
if
they were able to get
skim
and less sugar chocolate
milk,
it
would
be
great."
And
that's
exactly what we can have in
DCPS!And
the
USDA
agrees. Just on
May
19, 2011,
the
WASHINGTON
POST
wrote
that
a
USDA
nutritionist
said:
"The guidelines give chocolate
milk
and other
flavor
varieties thethumbs up.
If
it's the deciding factor on whether someone is going to drink
milk
ornot, we'd rather have them consume the
milk
and the nutrient package
with
theextra sugar."
A
lot of
People
want
Chocolate
Milk
Back
My
third point
is: A
lot of people want chocolate
milk
back.
1
surveyed
432
kids,
teachers, and staff
all
together.
All
of the
teachers
except for two said they wanted
2
chocolate
milk
back. Here is a quote by one
teacher:
"The children
like
chocolate
milk
and at least they have another choice instead of nothing."
84%
of
kids
want chocolate
milk
back -
that's
345 out of 410.
Conclusion
I
know your job is to take care of
DC
and to
represent
what we want. The interest ofLafayette Elementary is to get chocolate
milk
back.The last thing I want to say
is.... You
were trying to do a good thing when you tookchocolate
milk
away. But it isn't
working.
You
can make kids healthy and
represent
what people want at the
same
time
if you
give
chocolate
milk
back.Thank you so much for letting me speak to you.
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