WASHINGTON - Chocolate milk has been a staple in school cafeterias for decades. But as schools nationwide look to make their menus healthier, a debate has emerged over whether the sweet drink should still be served in the cafeteria.

As nutrition experts and schools crack down on sugary drink at schools, chocolate milk is on the chopping block.

To counter the trend, the dairy industry launched an advertising campaign Monday to promote chocolate milk as a healthy alternative.

The "Raise Your Hands for Milk" Campaign will cost the industry nearly a million dollars , by some estimates. It features a dietitian and celebrities, including Rebecca Romijn.

"I like chocolate milk and I know my girls will too because it's a great way for them to get all the nutrients that go with it," Romijn says the TV advertisement.

On one side of the debate chocolate milk is too sugary.

There are 12 grams of sugar in a half pint of regular milk and 24 to 30 grams in chocolate milk.

But defenders say that extra sugar is worth it, given its calcium and vitamin D content, which are desperately needed by children.

"When chocolate milk is made available, kids will pick it, they will choose it," said Felicia Stoler, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the "Raise Your Hands for Milk Campaign." "And the benefit is that they will get nine essential nutrients they need."

But some nutritionists say schools dropping chocolate milk are simply being smart about the sugar.

"When children have chocolate milk on a daily basis, at school, it's really going to be hard for them to go back home or just be drinking be plain milk," said Mary Story, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota's Obesity Prevention Center.

"If you take chocolate milk off the menu in school cafeterias, then what kids are left with are other sugary beverages that have no other nutritional value other than calories," countered Stoler.

In fact, a recent study of a Connecticut school district showed when chocolate milk was taken away, milk consumption of any kind dropped 67 percent in grades three through eight.

Chocolate milk defenders say look at the nutrition lost. While critics contend the dairy industry is looking at money lost.

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