Student Birthday/Classroom Parties/Lunch Food Policy
Student Birthday Policy
Birthdays are a special time for students and their families, and I appreciate that students want to share their birthday celebrations with their classmates. However, the District passed a new nutrition policy which prevents students from bringing sweet treats. In addition, I have students with severe food allergies. Therefore, if a student wants to bring in a treat to celebrate his or her birthday, the treat needs to come in the form of traditional "party favors" such as pencils, stickers, bookmarks, mini-notebooks as opposed to food items. Please note: If food items are brought in, they will not be distributed.
I want to encourage families to celebrate student birthdays by participating in the Celebration Book Club which results in new books being donated to the library for all students at Rescue to enjoy. At a time when student allergies and ant infestations in classrooms are common and nutritional guidelines are strict, it feels right to implement this practice. I appreciate your support and understanding.
If you have any questions about the student birthday policy or have a thought about another way to recognize your child on his or her birthday, please feel free to contact me.
Classroom Party Food Policy
Due to having students with food allergies, when we have classroom parties at various times throughout the year, I am making the following requests:
- All foods which are purchased for a party need to be kept in their original containers with the nutrition labels in place.
- If homemade food items are brought in for a classroom party, I would like the ingredients used to make the items attached. For safety and liability reasons, students with a food allergy may not eat any homemade food items whose contents are unclear or questionable. As a result, I would like any student who has a food allergy to bring in a supply of "safe snacks" by Friday, August 16. These snacks should be non-perishable and the snack box should be labeled with the student's name.
For more information, see page 27 in the Parent Handbook on our school website.
Lunch Food Policy
Students are not allowed to share or trade food with a classmate. My belief is each parent packs what he or she wants his or her child to eat for lunch. Therefore, there is NO legitimate reason to trade for or share food at any time. In addition, due to food allergies, the sharing of food could endanger another student's health. While I will review this policy with the students, I would greatly appreciate it if you would also discuss this with your student to reinforce the rule!