MANHATTAN — Parents and students held a protest outside City Hall Thursday against the Department of Education's new rule that bans the sale of homemade food during school fundraisers.
The protesters say the city's move encourages students to eat vending machine junk food, and some of the protesters held signs that read such slogans as "Read our lips! No more chips!"
The DOE wants to fight childhood obesity by keeping track of the nutritional value of foods children eat in school. They say it's much easier to track commercial goods than homemade cakes and cookies, and the rule effectively bans bake sales.
The DOE says it will now only permit certain pre-approved packaged items to be sold in school vending machines.
“I am a proud home baker and I think it is ridiculous that the Department of Education is telling us it's better for our kids to eat packaged, processed foods (rather) than homemade goods," said one angry mother, Caroline Press, in an interview with NY1.
But school officials say the move is part of a broader effort to stop burgeoning childhood obesity rates. Nearly 40 percent of the city’s elementary and middle school students are overweight or obese, according to the DOE. And a survey released in July found a correlation between students’ nutrition and their performance on standardized tests.
Some, however, feel that in a time of deep cuts to school budgets, the last thing officials should be doing is putting the kibosh on bake sales, often the saving grace of dwindling funds for school programs.
"It's not fair. Bake sales have always been an inexpensive, positive way for the community to get together to raise money for school programs, and to make that against the rules is not appropriate," a protestor told NY1.
The DOE has already loosened restrictions on bake sales once this year, in response to protests, the NY1 report said.
