A friend of mine brought this article to my attention yesterday: 10 years later, school still sugar free and proud. It notes the surprising story of Browns-Mill Elementary School, and the principal who, according to the article, single-handedly removed soda and junk food from her school and got kids asking for broccoli. I think it’s terrific. Someone saw a problem, and, instead of complaining to the federal government for more money or new laws, went out and fixed it. Now, we can debate soy milk as a health food or the benefits of exercise for the brain all day long, but there’s no doubt that something positive happened at Browns-Mill, and there’s even less doubt that the federal, state, or even local government was necessary to pull it off. While I do support some level of funding from those levels of goverment to the nation’s schools, along with a baseline standard to which students should be held to receive a diploma, I think that it should be as hands-off as possible, so that parents can influence their childrens’ educations to the greatest extent. I have no idea how best to do it, but I applaud people like principal Dr. Yvonne Sanders-Butler who just do it anyway.