A contract with a new beverage vendor was approved Monday night by the Suttons Bay Board of Education.

The board, with Trustee Steve Hall opposed, voted 6-1 Monday night to approve a 3-year contract with Coca-Cola to provide beverages in vending machines in the school. The district’s previous contract with Pepsi has expired.

Although details of the contract have to be finalized, board members authorized Superintendent Michael Murray to sign the agreement without returning to the group. Currently, the only place in the school where soft drinks are sold through machines are in teacher lounges.

Water is available to elementary students. The beverage offerings for middle and high school students expands to include Gatorade.

“The machines are turned off in the cafeteria for breakfast and lunch,” Murray said.
The new proposal, reviewed extensively by the district’s wellness committee and Student Council, will include no carbonated beverages and be limited to water, flavored water and juice, such as the popular drink called “Fuse.”

The school will order product (excluding items sold in concessions) from Coca-Cola and will receive a rebate of $4 per case on 20-ounce beverages and $2 per case on others, business manager Leann Eustice said. Money generated, estimated at between $5,000 and $6,000 per year, is used to support Student Council activities such as prom and homecoming. It will also go toward a scholarship fund to be distributed locally, the business manager said.

Hall, a dentist, was the lone no vote in the board.

“I thought it was a bad idea then, and I do now,” he said. “I’m coming from a different perspective, that of a dentist and health care professional. I don’t see any good reason for having vending machines in our school.”

In addition to the health concerns, Hall said he also had a problem with the message sent by vending machines.

“I hate seeing them in school. I hate seeing that big sweaty bottle of Coke when I go to a state park,” Hall said. “As stewards for our children, we should be hooking our kids with advertising in the school.”

Board members acknowledged Hall’s concerns, but also commented on progress made over the years in offering more healthy choices.

“We’re a little closer to what Steve believes … we’re closer to healthy, that’s a compromise,” board President Sue Corbin said.

In other business during the 2-hour meeting the board:

• Hired Jenica Greer to replace Linda Dean as coordinator for the Great Books Program for the Montessori School. It’s a 2-week program.

• Heard a first reading of policy revisions which address cell phones and electronic communication devices and security and video surveillance. The proposals will be reviewed by the board’s policy committee before considered for adoption.