At the Los Gatos Union School District Oct. 14 board meeting, members discussed how to implement the bill, which can't officially go into effect because it has no funding.

Board members expressed an interest in instituting provisions of the bill, even though it can't be mandated. District Superintendent Mary Ann Park presented board members with some of the details of the bill. For example, it proposes that elementary school cafeterias sell beverages, including milk, water, 100-percent-fruit juice or fruit-based drinks with no less than 50 percent fruit juice, containing no added sweeteners.

While board President Tina Orsi-Hartigan said juice boxes aren't cool to kids, she suggested that electrolyte, Gatorade-type drinks might be more appealing. Board member Alex Granas said statistics prove that when healthy alternatives, such as salads currently being sold in cafeterias, are offered, students tend to buy them.

By Jan. 1, 2004, the board plans to discontinue the sale of soft drinks at Raymond J. Fisher Middle School, except at vending machines before and after school, unless somehow prevented. By April 1, 2004, the board hopes to sell only nutritional snack items, eliminating food such as candy bars. The students will be asked for input during the implementation process to find out what kind of healthy alternatives they want.

Four exemplary teachers were recognized at the board meeting for being selected to participate in the Foothill College Krause Center for Innovation's "Earn While You Learn Institute."

The four teachers include: Lisa Keller, who teaches second grade at Blossom Hill Elementary School; Lacy Maxwell, a sixth-grade teacher at Raymond J. Fisher Middle School; and Jamie Glanville and Holly Kollenborn, both fifth-grade teachers at Louise Van Meter Elementary School.

The four Los Gatos teachers are now bringing what they learned back to their classrooms. They are instructing students on how to create PowerPoint presentation book reviews.

The board members also discussed the possibility of adding a teen center and mini-gym to Raymond J. Fisher Middle School. Steve Rauwolf, director of the Los Gatos­Saratoga Community Education and Recreation Department, proposed the idea.

Rauwolf said that in the recreation department's strategic plan, they are not serving middle and high school students as well as they could be. He said they hope to build some kind of a facility, consistent with the middle school's architecture, that would provide youth with a place to frequent during lunch and after school. The facility would be jointly used by the school's physical education department.

"I think this is something we were always hoping might happen," said board member Kathy Bays, in support of the idea, which is still in discussion stages.