Bye Bye Public School Bake Sales!

Let there be cake! Actually, the Department of Education has the opposite sentiment, and is banishing the age old tradition of school bake sales to the history books. The new regulations will also trim the fat from vending machines, and aims to limit how much sugar and fat students digest during the school day.

This new wellness policy may help with the waistlines, but it will also leave school programs and teams with even less money. Time for a new fund-raising tactic! The assistant principal at the UWS's La Guardia High School says, “There was never any cotton candy or something like that, and there weren’t sales all the time. But they are definitely a way kids count on to get money.”

There is a confusing exception to the baking ban, however; the NY Times reports that Parent groups and Parent-Teacher Associations 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 ... as far as the Education Department is concerned, stuffing oneself with coconut macaroons and peanut butter cookies at that hour is one’s prerogative." Yeah, wash it all down with a milkshake at McDonald's, kids!

Reportedly around 40% of the city's elementary and middle school students are overweight or obese. One nutritionalist told the paper, “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.” Somewhere, anti-junk-food mom is rejoicing.

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By Jen Carlson in Food on October 3, 2009 2:54 PM

Comments [rss]

Gothampc

You can take the nasty band candy -- those cheap tasting, powdery chocolate bars that the band tries to pawn off for $1 each, but please dear God, don't touch the Rice Krispie Treats. It's just not fair.

Past Taliban

Has anyone thought about banning the Dept Of Education?

FX

Screw this. As someone who recently graduated from a high school, Laguardia, actually, I can say that bake sales were the only way kids made money for the things they cared about. What's more, most of the big items at bake sales were the ethnic savories; empanadas and dumplings and whatnot-not the brownies. Joel Klein really needs to go shoot himself.

NannyState

Here comes the smoothie bars...

Kevin Walsh

Make healthy food good tasting and we'll eat it. Better yet, make unhealthy food healthy.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Pharmer

"Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels." Put yourself in that state of mind and junk food will taste like crap.

Spirit of 76

I bet a few mothers are relieved about this. Who has time to bake nowadays, especially a large number of cookies, brownies, etc.?

ides_of_march

Food fascists.

Maybe they can hold a tofu sale. I'm sure people will be thrilled to spend their money on a yummy slice of bean curd.

verbal

Bloomberg is sitting in his basement, scooping hot fudge from his personal chocolate factory with $100 bills, laughing at his serfdom.

Stupid stupid sheeple...

silver

No more brownies with chocolate ExLax baked in!

DanielJ

Oh c'mon. Banning bake sales because of the calories? Bake sales aren't for profit, they're usually to raise money for something. Tell the kid to just buy one, and then don't give him desert later. Don't deprive kids of school plays and shit because of it.