How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat… your vegetables? At Harlem’s Promise Academy Charter School, school leaders are trying to fight the rising tide of childhood obesity by serving food that is nutritious, low fat and, when possible, locally grown. The school not only bans sugary snacks but offers healthy cooking classes for parents and sponsors a monthly farmer's market where a voucher (don’t tell NYSUT and the UFT!!) buys a big bag of Hudson Valley carrots or winter squash. This is a great example of a charter school that is leading the way, doing what other traditional public schools might do if they could only break through the mold to become more innovative. The Associated Press story quotes Ann Cooper, director of food services for the Berkeley (Calif.) public schools (and who assisted the Harlem school with its food program) as saying: '”I think it's what we have to do at every school in America right now.”

Obesity and poor eating habits are a real problem in Harlem. A 2002 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 78 percent of black women ages 20 to 74 were overweight, with more than 50 percent qualifying as obese. Geoffrey Canada, whose Harlem Children’s Zone runs the school, said students are weighed at the beginning and end of the year. Canada hopes to build a database that will let researchers measure how successful the school has been at keeping its charges fit and trim. He said it's too soon to tell if the school has made any headway.

One of the interesting facets of the Harlem Children’s Zone is that it targets a 60-block area of Manhattan and provides its young people with education options, as well as social and health programs. In fact, the comprehensive program has been so promising that the Rochester school district is interested in creating its own “Rochester Children’s Zone” to provide services to families on the northeast part of the city.