Talk about putting it out there. New York Schools banned
bake sales to cut down on sugar and fat consumption. With approximately 40
percent of their elementary and middle schoolers overweight or obese, what
choice do they have? While I fully support cutting down on bad fat consumption (such
as hydrogenated oils), don’t throw out the good fat, such as butter and coconut
oil!
Here is the article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/nyregion/03bakesale.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bake%20sales&st=cse
A
Crackdown on Bake Sales in City Schools
By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: October 2, 2009
There shall be no
cupcakes. No chocolate cake and no carrot cake. According to New York City’s
latest regulations, not even zucchini bread makes the cut.
In an effort to limit how
much sugar and fat students put in their bellies at school, the Education
Department has effectively banned most bake sales, the lucrative if not
quite healthy fund-raising tool for generations of teams and clubs.
The change is part of a new
wellness policy that also limits what can be sold in vending machines and
student-run stores, which use profits to help finance activities like pep
rallies and proms. The elaborate rules were outlined in a three-page memo issued at the
end of June, but in the new school year, principals and parents are just
beginning to, well, digest them.
Parent groups and
Parent-Teacher Associations are conspicuously given an exception: once a month
they are allowed to sell as many dark fudge brownies and lemon bars as they
please, so long as lunch has ended. And after 6 p.m. on weekdays, anything
goes. But at that hour, most students are long gone, and as far as the
Education Department is concerned, stuffing oneself with coconut macaroons and
peanut butter cookies at that hour is one’s prerogative.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has
made both public health and public education centerpieces of his tenure, and
the changes in the schools’ food are an outgrowth of his efforts to curb trans fats, salt and other unwanted
additives.
Roughly 40 percent of the
city’s elementary and middle school students are overweight or obese, according
to the Education Department. The department also found a correlation between
student health and performance on standardized tests, according to a survey it released in
July.
The previous regulations
limited sales to once a month and allowed them at any time during that day, but
they were loosely enforced. Officials say they will do more to monitor the new
regulations.
“We have an undeniable
problem in the city, state and the country with obesity,” said
Eric Goldstein, the chief of the office of school support services. “During the
school day, we have to focus on what is healthy for the mind and the body.”
Unsurprisingly, the rationale
is getting a cool reception among students. At Fiorello H. La Guardia High
School on the Upper West Side, students are used to having bake sales several
times a month. Now, Yardain Amron, a sophomore basketball player, laments that
his team will not be able to raise money for a new scoreboard.
Another La Guardia student,
Eli Salamon-Abrams, 14, said that when the soccer team held a bake sale in May,
his blueberry muffins sold out in 15 minutes. He said of the ban: “I think it’s
kind of pointless. I mean, why can’t we have bake sales?”
The new policy also requires
that vending machines, which generate millions of dollars for school sports, be
supplied with snacks such as reduced-fat Baked Doritos and low-sugar granola
bars. A new vending machine contract is expected to be approved on Wednesday by
the Panel for
Educational Policy, the school oversight board. Student stores will be able
to sell only approved snacks bought from the new vendor, rather than obtain the
food themselves, as they once did.
Principals are expected to
enforce the new rules. “Noncompliance may result in adverse impact on the
principal’s compliance performance rating,” the policy states.
With the changes, school
administrators and teachers who oversee student clubs are laboring to come up
with other easy ways to raise money, particularly at a time when school budgets
are being cut.
John Sommers, the assistant
principal of organization at La Guardia, said that all fund-raisers using food
were on hold for now.
He said teachers had
encouraged students for years to be careful with what they sold. “There was
never any cotton candy or something like that, and there weren’t sales all the
time,” he said. “But they are definitely a way kids count on to get money.”
A typical weekday sale, he
said, could bring in about $500 in profit. “If they wanted to buy some uniforms
or go on a trip, that was enough,” he added.
Mr. Sommers said he was trying
to figure out other ways for students to raise money, perhaps by selling
T-shirts or key chains. (All of which are decidedly more expensive to produce
than a box of brownies.)
Department officials are
suggesting that teams use walk-a-thons and similar activities as a way of
raising money and doing something active.
For all the changes, there is
much the regulations do not address. For instance, there are no stipulations of
what kind of treats students may bring to class, so birthday cupcakes appear to
be safe. Snack bars of any kind are permitted at after-school sporting events,
a prime time for cheese-laden nachos and fatty hot dogs.
Schools around the United
States, including throughout California, have banned bake sales or put a limit
on the sugar and fat content of the goodies. But New York’s regulations are
among the strictest in the country, said Howard Wechsler, the director of the
division of adolescent and school health at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There are more schools that
are making more changes in what is available for kids at school,” said Dr.
Wechsler, who has studied nutrition policies at schools nationwide. “Schools are supposed to be a place where we
establish a model environment, and the last thing kids need is an extra source
of pointless calories.”