Don’t mess with the homemade chocolate cupcakes and Rice Krispies bars. Outraged parents in New York City recently took up spatulas and spoons to protest a city crackdown on school bake sales, those ubiquitous and often lucrative fund-raisers.
Getting the figurative pie in the face were city education officials, who say they have to balance fund-raising needs with the child obesity epidemic. Forty percent of the children in city schools are obese or overweight, they say. And they need to know, and control, the nutritional content of snacks sold in schools. Homemade goodies obviously don’t come with such labels. To stress the point, the spokesman for the city education department referred to a photo of chocolate chip cookies with bacon at a bake sale. Mmmmm-mm.
The new policy limits parent groups to holding bake sales only once a month during the school day. Student groups are forbidden from selling any homemade snacks. What really bothers parents is that items from a pre-approved list of 27 pre-packaged snacks that meet city nutritional guidelines are allowed to be sold anytime. Reduced Fat Cool Ranch Doritos, anyone? Otherwise, fund-raising groups can only sell fresh fruits and vegetables.
Putting aside the issue of home-baked treats vs. packaged snacks, parents lament the loss of community. Not everyone can write a check for a school fund-raiser, but people are often willing to bake a batch of brownies. Or they enjoy showing off their baking skills or picking up new ideas.
Bake sales also are known to be easy, nearly sure-fire winners for fund-raising, and with so many schools facing difficult budget choices, parent fund-raisers become even more important to buy science materials or pay for field trips that have been dumped.
In recent years, schools have urged parents to drop sugar-laden items in favor of bags of baby carrots or bran muffins or switch to fund-raisers that don’t involve food, such as school supplies or T-shirts. But backers of bake sales say it’s easier to get people to drop a dollar on a couple of cookies than spend $12 for a T-shirt.
What do you think?
Is cutting back on bakes sales an effective tool for fighting obesity? Do New York City school officials have a responsibility to watch out for students’ diets or are they just playing food police? What kind of non-food fund-raisers are held at your school? Join the discussion, and let us know what you think!
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