State board extends school junk food ban

Increasingly, Maryland school kids are having to wait until after school to get their fix of cookies, soda and potato chips.

According to a report presented yesterday to the Maryland State Board of Education, 17 of Maryland's 24 school districts have extended their ban on junk food sales to the entire school day.

The schools are responding to the board's nutrition policy adopted in February. Schools are not permitted to sell foods of "minimal nutritional value" until the end of the last lunch period. Extending the ban to the end of the day was encouraged but not required.

The board requires all school districts to...