This past year's seniors won't be the only old friends missing when Stanwood High School students return to class Sept. 1.

Under a new district policy against sugary and fatty foods in vending machines, fried chips will be replaced with baked ones, cookies will shrink, and juice will elbow out soda.

Students at the high school already have complained, blaming the principal and the newly elected student-body president, Graham Logen, among others for taking away their sweets.

"They think it's their right to have chocolate," said Logen, 17, who will be a senior in September. "Children should have candy all the time, they say. It's their born right."

Stanwood-Camano is one of many schools districts statewide and nationwide to cut the fat in campus vending machines. The Everett School District initiated a similar policy last fall despite student protests.

Districts that implement healthful food policies do so to help curb youth obesity and to score state and federal dollars given to healthful lunch programs, said Gary Platt, the executive director of business and operations for the Stanwood-Camano district.

The program is about providing students with healthful choices, not forcing them to eat better, Platt said.

"I think it's going to cause us all to be a little bit more aware of what we're offering," he said. "At least we're trying to set an example of what is healthy."

Some students don't care about healthful food, saying that if they wanted to eat healthfully, they could already do so. Taylor Forbes, who will be a senior at Stanwood in the fall, is more concerned about where he's going to get Mountain Dew during fifth period.

"I think it's stupid because we should be able to choose what we want to eat in our school," Forbes said. "Most of the people I talked to are really upset that there won't be pop anywhere on campus."

Juniors and seniors can still go off campus during lunch periods to get fast food or candy. Burger King and McDonald's restaurants are only a few blocks away.

The revenue from vending- machine sales has typically raised about $50,000 a year, Platt said. That money goes to athletics and other student-body programs, he added.

One of the biggest concerns raised in discussion about the new policy was where money for student programs would come if it didn't come from the vending machines — unhealthful foods sell better, Platt said.

Logen said the student body is estimating a loss of about $15,000 with the policy change, a gap he's been working to close with the athletic director.

The high school has already decided to raise the price of a student-body card by $5 next year, from $35 to $40, to help reduce the deficit. That difference will likely help sports programs, but the fund for assemblies and other student-body programs is at zero, Logen said.

"I'm not extremely happy with losing money, but I can stand it to fight the disease of obesity," Logen said.

Brian Alexander: 425-745-7813 or balexander@seattletimes.com