Parents Protest Food and Party Restrictions at Walton

Walton parents have been told to keep their cupcakes at home. And some are none too happy about it.

In a letter to parents sent out in early February, Principal Dr. Susie Hung said that as of Feb. 13, parents could no longer bring treats in to school to celebrate children’s birthdays. For the rest of the school year, parents who want to celebrate their child’s birthday with food must place an order through the Springfield Schools’ Food Services Manager, Reddrick Robinson, who can provide classes with items from a list of approved birthday treats. Next year, birthday food treats will not be permitted at all.

Several parents, who referred to the note as due to the color of the paper on which it was printed, took to Springfield’s Board of Education meeting to protest the letter. In addition to questioning the general spirit of the message, several parents criticized the timing of the new rule and questioned why it couldn’t have been imposed in September instead of February.

Principal Hung did not respond to a request for comment on the letter, but Springfield Schools Superintendent Michael Davino said the letter was written at his direction and that principals of Springfield’s other elementary schools would send out similar letters when they met his approval.

Davino emphasized that the letter did not present new policy, but instead outlined policy already in place. He said that parties and party treats ran counter to the district’s educational goals, and that while the approach to that policy has varied in the past, the policy has always been the same.

“This board did away with school parties years ago,” Davino said.

While the tone of the board meeting was often tense, with parents questioning the need for the restriction, several parents agreed about the value of nutrition and the dangers of food allergies.

The policy is related to the that received national attention last October. School board members and administrators have argued that with increased curriculum required by educators, time is too crunched for nonessential activities.

“Parties do not have a place in the educational environment,” Davino said at the board meeting. “We have limited instruction time as it is.”

Parents addressing the board argued that the parties and treats are essential elements of childhood and that withholding them did a disservice to the students. One mother of a student at Walton, who said that she had never let her child eat at McDonald’s or drink a soda, said that she was worried about taking away from “the sweetness of elementary school.”

Davino seemed to chafe at the idea that he was against fun in the schools.

“There is an automatic presumption that school is no longer fun because you don’t perceive it as such,” Davino said.

Sandmeier School PTA President Jodi Silverstein, whose husband Scott serves on the school board, took issue with the timing of the announcement.

“Why does a child who has a birthday in the last 80 days of school have a different opportunity than one with a birthday early in the year,” Silverstein asked. “Why not wait until September and make it equitable for everybody?”

Davino said he believed the rule needed to be imposed as quickly as possible to ensure the safety of his students. He revealed that he suffers from food allergies and intimately knew the risks that unsafe foods can pose.

“The last thing I have control over is food brought in from the outside,” Davino said.

One Walton mother spoke and said she was thankful for the district’s policy on food, as her son’s severe food allergies had landed him in the hospital multiple times. She said one episode was sparked by a pretzel.

While food-based celebrations would no longer occur, Walton teachers would mark student birthdays with a special sticker, pencil, card or crown. Teachers can interweave holidays into the school curriculum, Davino said.

“Education needs to be fun, but it doesn’t need to be entertaining,” Davino said. “There’s a difference.”