Bake Sales Banned in New York City Public Schools

by Brett Singer (Subscribe to Brett Singer's posts) Oct 7th 2009 11:00AM

Categories: Eating & Nutrition, Weird But True

New York City schools have banned bake sales to promote healthy eating habits among students. Credit: Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake, Flickr

No treats for you!

The New York City Department of Education has banned bake sales during school hours. Why? Because the kids are too fat, they say.

According to The New York Times, "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 food additives."

That's all well and good. But the idea that not allowing cookie sales during school hours is kooky.

What makes more sense is taking the junk food out of vending machines, which is another piece of the new regulations. I actually don't understand why vending machines are present in schools at all, although my guess is that it makes money for the school.And the notion that replacing potato chips with Baked Doritos is a great thing for kids' health is plain dopey. How about an apple? Some dried fruit, perhaps?

The downside of losing bake sales is the fund-raising aspect. Students at La Guardia High School told the Times that they had multiple bake sales every month, with one basketball player telling the paper that without bake sales, they won't be able to pay for a new scoreboard. John Sommers, an assistant principal at La Guardia, told the Times that bake sales could bring in as much as $500 in one day. That's going to be hard to replace. The Department of Education suggests replacing bake sales with Walk-a-Thons or "something active." Because that will work.

A better solution would be to perhaps limit the amount of junk served at lunch, as some schools across the country are doing. Or perhaps finding a way to sell healthier food at bake sales. Adding to the strangeness of the new Department of Education rules, the Times points out that "there is much the regulations do not address," such as bringing cupcakes to class on a birthday. Also, the PTA is allowed to have one bake sale a month. Why not let the students do the same?

Overall this appears to be a ham-handed way of throwing foolish regulations at a problem, which only creates new difficulties and solves nothing.

Do you agree? Is banning bake sales dumb? Or will it help kids get thin?

Related: NFL Players Visit New York City Middle School

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Comments (7)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Melissa 10-07-2009 @ 12:08PM

I'm sorry, but if they want junk food, they are going to find a way to get it, especially in New York, where there are street vendors and quicky marts on almost every corner! Banning bake sales just takes away the fund raising efforts, and that's wrong!

gERI 10-07-2009 @ 12:27PM

How typical of the "big Government, big brother attitude! Now if they would just do something about the crowded classrooms, outdated materials and an overreliance on mandated testing, I might take Mayor Goofball seriously, but banning the PTO activities that help to pay for the after school programs that let kids exercise and be physically active, thus helping to address obesity(no, videogames don't count) makes about as much sense as disregarding term limits.

Lisa Cain 10-07-2009 @ 12:57PM

This really seems silly. How about a ban on chicken nuggets served by the school cafeteria? Bake sales are NOT the problem.
Lisa
Snack Snoop

Clarissa 10-07-2009 @ 3:09PM

Exactly! Don't forget the hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, pizza, tater tots, nacho's, and the rest of the junk school's call a "well balanced meal".

Less junk at school, more PE and they will find kids a little less fat!

Glorious 10-07-2009 @ 3:40PM

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?? Ban bake sales?? That is anti-American! Surely the Constitution addresses bake sales and their necessity??
Seriously, butt out of our lives! This is a worthy fund-raising effort. People are going to eat what they want and if we decide to lose some weight, we will. No one gets to tell us what to eat, not in America.
A pox on Mayor Goofball's idea!

Elizabeth 10-07-2009 @ 10:39PM

I long for the day when schools get all the funding they need and the government has to hold bake sales.

Daniel 10-08-2009 @ 1:12AM

This is the worst idea made by Bloomburg. It brings number of problems:
1. stopping bake sales are not going to stop the students from eating junk food. Students will still buy them and bring them to school on a regular daily basis.
2. You take out all the other things such as chips from the vending machines? And then replace them with apples? or fruits? I'm a lover of fruits, however, I AM ALLERGIC TO THEM! dried fruits, SAME THING! making them dry does not make the food artificially flavored.
3. We are going to starve. People roam around the lunchroom and find more than half the bodies inside the lunchroom not eating because they do not want to eat what they see; the food is not to the student's liking.
4. Protests are going to happen. IT'S INEVITABLE! Although the chances of it not happening are not too high in statistics, history shows that people not having what they want, will break out into riots. Teachers, please remind yourselves: ' history is bound to repeat itself'.
In all seriousness, getting rid of school bake sales will not help the student body. banning them from selling candy will do the same

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