home
RSS
Water in schools - what readers say
April 22nd, 2011
12:25 PM ET

Water in schools - what readers say

Tune into "Sanjay Gupta, M.D."7:30A.M. ET  Saturday- Sunday to learn more about water in schools.

This week’s story about the difficulties many children have with getting drinking water at school  prompted a lot of interesting comments. My interest in this story began in December after reading through the actual legislation that President Obama signed into law on that day.

Many people, especially those in politics and media, often make a big deal about the number of pages that make up federal legislation like health care reform, but what always strikes me is the opposite: How little is written to change so much.  Think about it – the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 defines nutrition policy for America’s schoolchildren, and it’s 200 pages long with only 25 lines per page. That’s much less text than the book you’d read while sitting on the beach. And the section mandating that every public school across the country provide free drinking water? It's just eight lines long.

It’s so brief in fact it’s easy to miss – but when you think about what it's saying, it's a huge deal. Why is it in there? What is it trying to accomplish? That’s what led to the earlier article, and to all of your comments. Here are just some of the reader comments that struck me, grouped into similar themes.

Many readers shared their personal experiences with dehydration in school.

“My son suffers dehydration at school. His excuse was long lines at the water fountain.” – gman21

“Kids are trained from a young age to be dehydrated all the time. Regardless of any other problem in the diet, that’s a huge issue.” – Mijan

“Only ¼ of the fountains in the buildings actually works, and those aren’t trusted. I simply go all school day with nothing to drink.” –-adloq

“On the days we forget to fill a water bottle for my boy he complains about having been thirsty all day ‘cause he only get like 3 seconds at the water fountain ‘cause only one of the fountains works well and there are so many kids. Ridiculous.” – cyclelogger

Some readers suggested children should bring their own bottles of water to school.

“If your kid isn’t getting enough water, give them a water bottle and fill it up for them to bring to school.” – yoinkmasta10

“Why isn’t a metal or plastic water bottle simply included in the list of school supplies for the year?” – BetterReform

But many schools do not allow bottles.

“Some kid brought alcohol to my kids school last year in a plastic water bottle. As a result, under the school’s “zero tolerance” policy, any student bringing a water bottle to school will be summarily suspended – regardless what the bottle contains.” – Budster90

“We weren’t allowed to bring water bottles to school…it was pretty ridiculous of them to essentially forbid kids from drinking water during class.” – RosaFranklin

“I used to come home from school every single day with a horrible headache. It was lack of water. There simply wasn’t enough time in between classes, and teachers didn’t allow any food or beverages in the class.” – Thinking7

At least two readers reported needing a doctor’s note for their children to be served water with lunch.

“No note, no water.” – Guest

Some readers see the revenue from bottled water as the real reason schools don’t provide better access to water.

“‘If students drink free water served at school instead of purchasing competitive beverages…’ says it all.” – Worldwalker

The issue of bathroom breaks came up too – how kids will need more time to go.

“If they are going to give them enough water, they need to start giving them enough bathroom breaks as well…my daughter refuses to drink anything during the school day because she doesn’t have enough time to use the bathroom.” – SaraBeth4115

There is no problem with water in schools according to some.

“WOW! What a non-story!” – JackK1

Others point out all the waste disposable cups would create, and suggest children be allowed to use bottles.

“Cups are a terrible idea. They cost money, you have to keep putting that money into them, and they create a TON of waste. Do what the Germans did, and give the kids reusable water bottles.” – Techsupp0rt

And one reader did the math on how much time kids at Vista Middle School have to drink from the water fountains there.

“Hmmm…are 4 fountains ‘enough’? 1700 kids/ 4 water fountains for lunch = 425 kids per water fountain. 425 kids / 30 minute lunch period = 14 kids per minute for each fountain. 60 seconds/14 kids = 4.2 seconds per kid to approach the fountain and drink. Sounds like a highly inadequate hydration opportunity to me.” – songwright

Watch Sanjay Gupta MD Saturday at 4:30pm and Sunday at 7:30am ET. For the latest from Sanjay Gupta MD click here.


soundoff (984 Responses)
  1. RV Repair Mission Viejo

    https://www.interempresas.net/estadisticas/r.asp?idsector=129&e=221083&c=195&d=https://www.ocrv.pro/

    June 29, 2021 at 07:54 | Report abuse | Reply
  2. https://shiatsu-web.com

    Best view i have ever seen !

    https://www.google.fm/url?q=https://shiatsu-web.com

    June 29, 2021 at 08:16 | Report abuse | Reply
  3. Rv Restoration

    Excellent site you have here.. Itís difficult to find excellent writing like yours nowadays. I honestly appreciate individuals like you! Take care!!

    http://link.harikonotora.net/?https://ocrv.vip/

    June 29, 2021 at 11:04 | Report abuse | Reply
  4. 2006 Sprinter Tank Fuel Pump Repair

    Can I simply say what a comfort to find somebody who really understands what they are discussing on the net. You definitely know how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More and more people ought to look at this and understand this side of the story. I was surprised you're not more popular since you most certainly have the gift.

    http://www.wallpaperlink.com/cgi-bin/rank/out.cgi?id=DECOO&url=https://ocrvcenter.net

    June 29, 2021 at 11:05 | Report abuse | Reply
  5. Vanlife Repair Costs For Mercedes Sprinter

    Very good article. I will be facing a few of these issues as well..

    http://nangluongvietnam.vn/apiservice.html?service=device_switcher&mobile=yes&back_state_url=https://ocrvmotorsports.life/

    June 29, 2021 at 12:10 | Report abuse | Reply
  6. RV Repair Shops Near Me Now

    This site was... how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I've found something which helped me. Kudos!

    http://www.freedback.com/thank_you.php?u=https://www.ocrv.org/

    June 29, 2021 at 12:29 | Report abuse | Reply
  7. Repair My 2006 Dodge Sprinter 3500 Rv

    There's certainly a great deal to learn about this subject. I like all the points you've made.

    https://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/professional/pages/redir.axd?url=http://ocrvcenter.com/

    June 29, 2021 at 14:48 | Report abuse | Reply
  8. RV Repair Shops Near My Location

    https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https://ocrvcenter.com

    June 29, 2021 at 14:55 | Report abuse | Reply
  9. Mercedes Sprinter Van Abs Repair

    http://www.norcopia.se/g/go.php?url=https://www.boxtruckrepairshop.com/

    June 29, 2021 at 16:44 | Report abuse | Reply
  10. RV Repair Near Me Now

    An impressive share! I've just forwarded this onto a friend who had been conducting a little homework on this. And he actually bought me dinner because I stumbled upon it for him... lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to talk about this subject here on your site.

    https://www.asma.org/impakredirect.aspx?url=ocrv.info

    June 29, 2021 at 16:53 | Report abuse | Reply
  11. Rv Wrap Shop Near Me

    Hey there! I simply would like to give you a huge thumbs up for the excellent information you've got here on this post. I'll be coming back to your site for more soon.

    https://www.adultwork.com/SetReferrerCookie.asp?SelUserID=602668&ReferringURL=&TargetURL=http://fleetservicerepairshop.com

    June 29, 2021 at 18:12 | Report abuse | Reply
  12. Mercedes Luxury Van Repair Shop Near Me

    http://clicks.questline.com/StandardCampaigns.ashx?redirectUrl=https://www.fleetservicesorangecounty.com/&email=TACMEDICWIFE@YAHOO.COM&linkOrdinal=6&standardCampaignSendId=bf7e4552-4dc5-4d8b-806b-def18da8df44&subscriberId=846f20cc-4150-4ea7-851d-2d0029d10a3f&isTest=False

    June 29, 2021 at 23:12 | Report abuse | Reply
  13. Van Conversion

    https://www.salonspot.net/sclick/sclick.php?UID=www.toukaen.eei.jp&URL=http://sprintervanrepairnearme.com

    June 30, 2021 at 00:50 | Report abuse | Reply
  14. Sprinter Van Repair Near Me

    Everything is very open with a really clear description of the issues. It was truly informative. Your website is useful. Thanks for sharing!

    http://www.c9wiki.com/link.php?url=http://www.sprintervanrepairshop.com

    June 30, 2021 at 01:46 | Report abuse | Reply
  15. RV Repair San Clemente California

    Hi there, I do believe your website could be having web browser compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in Internet Explorer, it's got some overlapping issues. I just wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Other than that, fantastic blog!

    http://em.starz.com/rbc40/c2.php?STAZ/34987929/197338/H/N/V/https://www.ocrv.org/

    June 30, 2021 at 02:13 | Report abuse | Reply
  16. Nearby RV Repairs

    A motivating discussion is worth comment. There's no doubt that that you should write more about this subject matter, it may not be a taboo matter but usually folks don't discuss such subjects. To the next! Cheers!!

    http://gb-www.digitimes.com.tw/gate/gb/ocrv.vip

    June 30, 2021 at 02:44 | Report abuse | Reply
  17. Collision Repair

    http://www.lontrue.com/ADClick.aspx?SiteID=206&ADID=1&URL=https://www.campervanrepairshop.com/

    June 30, 2021 at 05:11 | Report abuse | Reply
  18. Camper Repairs Near Me

    You've made some good points there. I looked on the web for additional information about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this website.

    https://bpk-spb.com/bitrix/rk.php?goto=https://ocrv.biz

    June 30, 2021 at 07:52 | Report abuse | Reply
  19. Sprinter Blower Fan Repair Near Me

    http://biyoumatome.info/?wptouch_switch=desktop&redirect=http3A2F2Fcustomcampervans.com/

    June 30, 2021 at 12:08 | Report abuse | Reply
  20. Mercedes Benz Sprinter Body Repair San Diego

    Your style is really unique in comparison to other folks I have read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this web site.

    http://www.powerflexweb.com/centers_redirect_log.php?idDivision=25&nameDivision=Homepage&idModule=m551&nameModule=myStrength&idElement=298&nameElement=ProviderSearch&url=https://sprintervanrepairshop.com

    June 30, 2021 at 13:17 | Report abuse | Reply
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Leave a Reply to stuttering john podcast


 

CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the Rules of Conduct set forth in our Terms of Service. Comments are not pre-screened before they post. You agree that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service.

Advertisement
About this blog

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.