Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, has instituted a ban of chocolate and strawberry milk.

The school board on Tuesday voted to remove the flavored milks as of July 1.

The decision by the district, which affects about nearly 688,000 students, is seen by many as controversial. However the district is just one of a growing number of school districts nationwide banning the longtime cafeteria beverage.

Washington, D.C., Boulder Valley, CO, and Berkeley, CA, are some of the other school districts that only serve plain milk at its schools because of the added sugar in flavored versions.

A LAUSD spokesperson stated: “Jamie Oliver provided the opportunity to focus on an area that could contribute to ongoing district initiatives, which included the recommendation for the removal of flavored milk with added sugars. Our goal, in tandem with Jamie Oliver, is to continue to serve healthy and nutritious meals.”

Oliver, on his ABC show “Food Revolution,” filled a school bus with sand and equated it to the quantity of added sugar LA students consume every year in flavored milk alone, one serving of which apparently has the same amount of sugar as a candy bar (between 20 and 27 grams).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three American children are overweight or obese. Since 1980, obesity in people between the ages of 2 to 19 has tripled.

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San Marcos, CA, United States (AHN) – A 14-year-old Girl Scout who was one of the group’s top sellers of their famous cookies died after collapsing at a middle school dance.

Sabrina Keller, 14, was celebrating the end of 8th grade with 250 classmates at Woodland Park School in San Marcos, CA, on Thursday when she collapsed after walking off the dance floor.

“She was dancing and then she sat down and then from a chair just collapsed, just kind of folded over onto the floor,” Principal David Cochrane told San Diego’s 10 News.

A parent chaperone who also works as a nurse tried to resuscitate the teen and performed CPR until San Marcos emergency crews arrived.

Medics airlifted her to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, Keller she was pronounced dead at 10:10 pm.

An autopsy performed Friday was inconclusive and medical examiners said further tests to determine a cause of death could take up to 90 days.

According to reports, the girl didn’t have any pre-existing medical conditions.

Keller, a popular 8th grader, was named San Marcos County’s top Girl Scout cookie seller after selling 3,463 boxes of cookies. It also marked a county record.

As a prize for selling the most cookies in the county, the Girl Scouts arranged a helicopter ride for Keller.

A vigil held for the teen on Friday drew a crowd of hundreds. Grief counselors were at her school Monday to comfort classmates. A memorial service is planned for Tuesday in San Marcos.

The middle school graduation Keller was looking forward to attending will be held on Thursday.

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Hundreds of proud parents, family members and friends flooded the Golden Gates Assembly Auditorium to witness the students being one by one called to receive their awards from former Governor General and Co-Patron Dame Ivy Dumont and Minister of Education Desmond Bannister.

When Anna was first introduced, she captured the hearts of the packed house upon noticing her visual impairment.

As they announced and awarded the 24 semi-finalists and then the 24 finalists, Anna said she “felt great but kind of tense because I didn’t know when my name was going to be called.”

Then the highly anticipated moment came that everyone awaited – the announcement of the winner.

As head of the distinguished judging panel, Jacqueline Bethel read the bio of the winner it appeared as though another student had won because given Anna’s disability many figured it could not have been her.

“When she was eight-years-old, she competed for the first time in the annual Inter-School Swimming Competition,” Mrs. Bethel read.

“When she stepped to the edge of the pool, many whispered ‘that’s the blind girl! They are letting the blind girl swim!”

At that point, the room erupted into a huge applause and everyone stood to their feet in amazement, some even in tears at the story of the young girl, who is determined to beat the odds.

“It’s a fantastic feeling, I’m very excited,” said the jovial 6th grader at her school, who maintains an accumulative grade point average of 3.80 and serves as head girl.

Additionally Anna plays the piano, sings in the church, dances and assists by visiting the elderly in the community.

Anna was second runner-up in the Abaco District Spelling Bee competition, second place in the Rotary Club of Abaco Speech Competition and top academic achiever in grades four, five and six.

“I like different activities, I like to be around people and I like to walk and swim,” she said.

The fact that Anna is blind, encouraged by her parents and school officials to be adamant that she be main-streamed and not sent to the School for the Blind.

“Anna loves school and she loves people,” her mother, Theresa Albury said.

“I think in the future she will do something with people. She loves computers and despite her being blind that does not keep her behind from doing anything she wants to do.”

Candace Key, Principal at the Hope Town Primary School described Anna as “a gifted young lady who has gained the respect of her classmates early on by demonstrating her disciplined manner during school and her pleasant demeanor on campus in student activities and relationships.”

Kyla Higgs of Harbour Island All Age School was first runner up and received a $5,000 scholarship sponsored by The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).

Ashleigh Bernon of Bishop Michael Eldon Primary School, Cameron Knowles of Queen’s College and Ivoine Ingraham of St. Cecilia’s Primary School rounded out the top five and all received $3,000 scholarships.

Over $80,000 in scholarships and $15,000 in prizes were awarded on Saturday evening.

Since the inception of the awards programme in 1997, 1,189 students have been recognised as the “Who’s Who in Primary Schools in The Bahamas” and over half a million dollars awarded in scholarships and prizes.

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It instructs teachers how to incorporate The Features into planning and offers suggestions to students on how to use The Features to become a better writer.By teaching the students in a way that will help them to score better on the standardized tests, this is not going to help the students in the long run to retain their knowledge they get while in grade school. Its true that colleges look at these past high schools standardized test schools to determine if the students will be a good match for their schools, but this is only part of the process. If a student’s isn’t intellectually prepared for colleges demanding process of creative and critically thinking, they wont last long in the college school life. Schools need to realize that y setting themselves up for success with good standardized test scores; they are setting their students up for failure. This has been a popular relocation spot for teaching candidates for nearly a decade now. Their economy is strong and their population is growing by leaps and bounds. Raleigh-Durham is one of the most popular areas in the state for teaching candidates. For less competition, try other cities in the state.

The comprehensive Career Services Center offers graduate students a full range of consultative services and career planning programs made possible by the school’s student/faculty ratio of 15 to 1. Specialty programs offered by the college include homegrown teaching scholars’ initiative that provides loans for prospective candidates for teaching from Catawba and Alexander Counties in exchange for an agreement to teach 4-7 years in the home county of the candidate. It is also a member of the American Association of Community Colleges. Special programs have been accredited by the National League for Nursing, Commission on Dental Accreditation, and Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs in collaboration with the Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs for EMT Paramedic and various other approving authorities.Seeing that the debate is not clear-cut leaves educators with the options of maintaining the status quo, throwing their hands up in frustration, or deciding to wait until consensus is reached. But true education, as many educators are fond of saying to their students, means “becoming life long learners;” teachers know they are called to continue to learn about their profession throughout their careers.

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