A Crackdown on Bake Sales in City Schools
How can you not be interested in a headline like this! My first reaction was, of all the things there are to worry about they are cracking down on bake sales? Who hasn’t been part of a bake sale fund-raiser? They bring in a lot of money, at least in our school. The Dollars for Scholars organization at our school has cake walks at almost every basketball game to raise money. After every spring concert there is a bake sale and that too brings in a pile of money. So I just couldn’t imagine what the hub-bub was all about with this headline. Of course, it is about wellness policies.
Does your school have a wellness policy? I am not presently at a school, but the school I had been with developed one over the past few years. It was aimed at teaching students better nutrition habits and physical activities that promote a healthier life style. Now, I am sure you are saying this is not a very exciting, controversial topic, but I am getting to that. This got me thinking along the lines of what I spoke about last week with teacher dress codes. After reading a lot of student dress code issues, I thought it would be interesting to see if teachers are held to the same dress code ethics as students are. In the same respect, if a school has a health and wellness policy, should the teachers be expected to adhere to the same strict guide lines? When my school converted to the healthy lifestyle changes, among many other things, it meant no more soda/pop in the vending machines, only juices. This had a major impact on me personally. I am not a coffee drinker at school, but instead, my mojo is Diet Mountain Dew. I consider it the breakfast of champions. I was not able to get my ‘fix’ at the school pop machine any more. So, I brought my own. Contraban! Since the induction of the wellness policy our school underwent 2 different administrators. They both took a different stance about the participation teachers should have in the implementation of the policy. One took the stance that we as teachers should just be discrete about what we consume. The other said there had to be complete compliance towards the policy. We were told we could not have pop, candy, sweets and the like just like the kids. Coffee was still allowed though, no questions asked. So guess what I did. I acted like I was now a coffee drinker and put my Diet Dew in a covered coffee mug. What do you think? Was I insubordinate with ‘sneaking’ my pop? Should teachers be required to follow the same healthy guidelines that we require of our students through a wellness policy? And most importantly why is coffee okay, but not diet pop?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The elementary school where I work has been focusing on healthy life choices. The school district received a fruits and vegetables grant that gives students a fruit and a vegetable for snack three times a week. Some other changes are that at family night activities, the PTO serves milk instead of soda and they do not serve candy or treats served anymore. Instead they are replaced with healthier fruits and vegetable munchies. Teachers are still allowed to have soda but we are asked not to drink it in front of the students or put the soda into water bottles or coffee cups. I think if the school told me not to drink soda at work I would follow the request. It is not going to hurt me to not drink soda and I could use it as an example for my students.
ReplyDeleteThe school that I work at does offer healthy alternatives during lunch. They offer juice, as well as milk and water to our students. During our DT time(Discovery Time - similar to homeroom)at least two days a week, we focus on healthy life styles (eating well, exercising etc) and our students have an opportunity during zero hour (time before school starts) to participate in activities that promote exercising.
ReplyDeleteWe do not have vending machines that offer just candy or pop. They have healthier choices like popcorn and juice. Our elementary schools ask parents to send healthy snack for their child. They send out information on how important healthy snacks are for their child and how sugar snacks dull their brain.
I do feel that parents have to take a more active roll in helping to teach our students on better and healthier choices.
First of all Diet Dew is the best. When i was student teaching the school i was at had a wellness policy in place. The kids could not bring in or share gum or they get detention. They could not bring in cup cakes for birthdays and it was just a real kill joy. The rules that apply to the kids should not apply to teachers. Teachers should not be treated the same a students because we are not the same as students. A fine line needs to be in place and that line includes what i choose to eat for lunch. Name any other job in country that tells you what you can eat for lunch... i can't think of one.
ReplyDelete