Catholic school nutrition

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pristine2

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My family has recently moved to a small town in the US with a thriving Catholic community, We’re not Catholic, but my daughter (almost 8) attends the local Catholic school and hopes to be baptised and receive first communion this Spring. To support her, I bring her to mass every week, and I attend RCIA classes. We’re doing our best to provide her a Christian household. I’ve met regularly with the parish priest, and seek the advice of our neighbours, who have six children and are devout Catholics.

My wife and I very happy with the school overall, but we do have a couple of issues where we think things could improve, and we’re ready to offer our help. One matter is the paucity of foreign languages in the curriculum – that’s a subject for a later post.

The other, more immediate issue: food.

We accept that the American diet is different than we are accustomed to, and that we must accommodate ourselves to it. Still, we can’t help but be appalled at the enormous levels of salt, cheap oils & fats, sugar and chemical sweeteners in the local diet. There is also an over-reliance on processed foods that contain an inordinate number of ingredients that can barely be called “food” at all. We’re also surprised at the over-use of candy & junk food to “reward” or encourage good behaviour among the children. We see this as a very harmful practice.

The school does a very good job involving the parish community in preparing school lunches. A network of parents provides kitchen labour, and they also help mitigate the expense. Alas, while the food is imbued with love, it is also dripping in dubious oils and scores of unnecessary and possibly harmful ingredients. Lunch often consists of restaurant-bought, pre-prepared entrees using things like hyrdogenated palm & cottonseed oil, chemically modified starches, processed sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup, and olfactory chemicals like MSG (“yeast extract,” autolysed yeast protein," etc.).

As my wife is from India, we have raised the kids to eat neither beef nor pork, so on most days we have to pack a lunch for our daughter anyway. We had wrongly expected that there would at least be fish available on Fridays. So the only days we don’t pack a lunch is when there is chicken or turkey on the menu, which is maybe three or four days a month.

Unfortunately, this hasn’t insulated our daughter from the dietary dangers. At least twice a week the teachers distribute “goodies” like doughnuts prepared in pig lard, supermarket cupcakes (40 ingredients!), lolipops, “artificially flavoured” packaged corn or potato chips fried in cottonseed oil, and candy bars. Every child’s birthday is celebrated with such stuff (though a few parents will at least provide home-baked cupcakes). But often the junk food is distributed to celebrate class achievements in school, or just to make the children feel good. Field trips always include a visit to a fast food outlet like McDonalds or Arbys.

Everyone likes eliciting smiles from the children, but plying them with comfort food like this is not doing them any favours. It reinforces bad eating habits they may already be learning at home, and undermines the efforts of parents who are conscious of how and what their children eat. Honestly speaking, a good number of the children are already over-weight or obese. I fear many can look forward to type II diabetes, gall stones and other medical problems as they get older.

We’re unsure how to broach the subject with the school without causing offence. We requested that the menu be a little more detailed so we can plan (for example, specifying whether the lunch contained beef or pork), and the response was pretty frosty.

One thought I had was, as part of our donation to the Parish, to pay for a nutritional consultant to come in and help the school modernise its food services. But so far I have not found anyone offering this expertise in our area. I’d also like to find one that is familiar with Catholic education, and could deliver a nutritional plan that would be readily accepted by the community.

Any thoughts on what we might do – even advice to shut up and hold our peace – would be warmly appreciated.

Richard
 
I think that you should just continue to provide your child with the kinds of food you want her to eat. Most Catholic schools do not have the desire, manpower or resources to cook healthy meals. We tried to get that to happen at our school. Too many apathetic parents and administrators. My son is in high school now and packs a lunch every day, and that is his own preference!

You may want to discuss with your child why you are not allowing her to buy lunch, and work with her on how to turn down the snacks you find offensive.
 
pristine2 said:
My family has recently moved to a small town in the US with a thriving Catholic community, We’re not Catholic, but my daughter (almost 8) attends the local Catholic school and hopes to be baptised and receive first communion this Spring. To support her, I bring her to mass every week, and I attend RCIA classes. We’re doing our best to provide her a Christian household. I’ve met regularly with the parish priest, and seek the advice of our neighbours, who have six children and are devout Catholics.

My wife and I very happy with the school overall, but we do have a couple of issues where we think things could improve, and we’re ready to offer our help. One matter is the paucity of foreign languages in the curriculum – that’s a subject for a later post.

The other, more immediate issue: food.

We accept that the American diet is different than we are accustomed to, and that we must accommodate ourselves to it. Still, we can’t help but be appalled at the enormous levels of salt, cheap oils & fats, sugar and chemical sweeteners in the local diet. There is also an over-reliance on processed foods that contain an inordinate number of ingredients that can barely be called “food” at all. We’re also surprised at the over-use of candy & junk food to “reward” or encourage good behaviour among the children. We see this as a very harmful practice.

The school does a very good job involving the parish community in preparing school lunches. A network of parents provides kitchen labour, and they also help mitigate the expense. Alas, while the food is imbued with love, it is also dripping in dubious oils and scores of unnecessary and possibly harmful ingredients. Lunch often consists of restaurant-bought, pre-prepared entrees using things like hyrdogenated palm & cottonseed oil, chemically modified starches, processed sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup, and olfactory chemicals like MSG (“yeast extract,” autolysed yeast protein," etc.).

As my wife is from India, we have raised the kids to eat neither beef nor pork, so on most days we have to pack a lunch for our daughter anyway. We had wrongly expected that there would at least be fish available on Fridays. So the only days we don’t pack a lunch is when there is chicken or turkey on the menu, which is maybe three or four days a month.

Unfortunately, this hasn’t insulated our daughter from the dietary dangers. At least twice a week the teachers distribute “goodies” like doughnuts prepared in pig lard, supermarket cupcakes (40 ingredients!), lolipops, “artificially flavoured” packaged corn or potato chips fried in cottonseed oil, and candy bars. Every child’s birthday is celebrated with such stuff (though a few parents will at least provide home-baked cupcakes). But often the junk food is distributed to celebrate class achievements in school, or just to make the children feel good. Field trips always include a visit to a fast food outlet like McDonalds or Arbys.

Everyone likes eliciting smiles from the children, but plying them with comfort food like this is not doing them any favours. It reinforces bad eating habits they may already be learning at home, and undermines the efforts of parents who are conscious of how and what their children eat. Honestly speaking, a good number of the children are already over-weight or obese. I fear many can look forward to type II diabetes, gall stones and other medical problems as they get older.

We’re unsure how to broach the subject with the school without causing offence. We requested that the menu be a little more detailed so we can plan (for example, specifying whether the lunch contained beef or pork), and the response was pretty frosty.

One thought I had was, as part of our donation to the Parish, to pay for a nutritional consultant to come in and help the school modernise its food services. But so far I have not found anyone offering this expertise in our area. I’d also like to find one that is familiar with Catholic education, and could deliver a nutritional plan that would be readily accepted by the community.

Any thoughts on what we might do – even advice to shut up and hold our peace – would be warmly appreciated.

Richard
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No matter how politely you talk to school officials, I think you would offend.

It’s a matter of money. The processed foods are cheaper. The school cannot afford to buy fresh veges and fruits over canned or frozen. And if you live in an area of the U.S. that is currently experiencing winter, it’s even more expensive, and frankly, all the “fresh” fruits and veges taste awful at this time of year.

Also, it’s difficult to come up with menus serving large numbers that don’t involve meat and that are simple to prepare. Mac and Cheese, various meatless pasta dishes (lasagne, spagetti), various tortilla and cheese dishes, and soups. That’s fine, but they take a lot more prep than just laying out pieces of meat on a baking sheet, shaking some seasoning over them, and popping them into the oven.

Sorry. I agree with others–continue to give your child a bag lunch. And don’t be too harsh in your judgement. There are a lot of fat American children, but there are also a lot of very fit and healthy Americans who grew up eating all that fat and chemicals.
 
I went to Catholic schools all throughout elementary and high school. I brought my lunch every single day. And every day it was a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwhich, a juice box, and a snack. :o

I think it’s great that you want to make a positive change. But you’ll have to decide whether or not this is a battle you want to fight. You will encounter resistance. Some of it is that others won’t be as concerend about it as you. Some of it is that people don’t want to rock the boat and deviate from “this is how we’ve always done it”. Some of it is that the change will strike people as expensive and tough to implement.

In addition to offering education, you will also need to be willing to listen to why people are reluctant in order to address their specific concerns.

If it were me, I would take the easy way out and just give my kids a brown bag lunch every day. That way I would always have control over what they were eating and there would be no surprises.

But if you feel strongly about pushing for change, be prepared to fight an uphill battle. And don’t be surprised that other parents feel just as strongly about not changing things. Not to discourage you from doing what you feel is best. :o But that’s probably the reality of what you are facing.
 
pristine2 said:
One thought I had was, as part of our donation to the Parish, to pay for a nutritional consultant to come in and help the school modernise its food services. But so far I have not found anyone offering this expertise in our area. I’d also like to find one that is familiar with Catholic education, and could deliver a nutritional plan that would be readily accepted by the community.

Richard
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I have the same concern for my grandchild enrolled in a Catholic school kindergarten.

Your donation of a nutrition consultant is generous. Privately advise the principal of your desire and see where it goes. Get involved if a committee for better nutrition evolves from your request.

Good nutrition/hydration is essential for youngsters trying to learn and grow. It is a priority.
 
Cat said:
No matter how politely you talk to school officials, I think you would offend.
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I agree with this. I found myself feeling offended as I read your post and I agree with most of what you wrote!
Cat said:
Sorry. I agree with others–continue to give your child a bag lunch. And don’t be too harsh in your judgement. There are a lot of fat American children, but there are also a lot of very fit and healthy Americans who grew up eating all that fat and chemicals.
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I think this sums up why I was offended. I grew up eating that stuff, but I eat much more healthily now and I am in excellent physical health (and actually I always have been, even when I was eating the “junk.”) I know Americans are stereotypically viewed as all being fat and stupid, but a) it’s not true and b) even if it was true, going into your child’s school and saying, “I know, you’re Americans and don’t know any better, but here is how I’m going to fix you” is going to hurt a lot of feelings.

A reasonable request might be made to identify vegetarian foods, or allergens, but remember beef and pork are not prohibited by Catholics so it doesn’t make sense from a Catholic school perspective to point out foods that are prohibited by other religions. In a public school setting, the student would be responsible for that - looking at the menu beforehand, checking with staff, and erring on the side of not eating it.

Pack a lunch and avoid the snacks. That’s what a lot of health-conscious parents do already. 🤷
 
It is difficult to live in America today and avoid fast food/junk food as it is all around us.
 
You’re actually lucky to have private school lunch service at all–in fact I kind of wonder if the school isn’t participating in the federal lunch program, which tends to drive the food in the direction of calorific (I believe the federally approved lunches are required to supply 50% of the child’s daily caloric needs, which is totally nuts and they encourage the use of a lot of agricultural surplus). Our kids go to private school and there is lunch service, but it’s ordered from local fast food or quick service places (but there is a decent variety). Plus, the hot lunches are expensive (around $4 each), so we only order them at most once or twice a week (the kids get burnt out from packing their own lunches).

The public school lunches have always been terrible. However, they were terrible even when American kids were a lot skinnier (25 and 30 years ago, when I was in school, fat little kids were quite uncommon). They are part of the problem, but they aren’t the whole problem. It’s just a piece of the whole picture that includes other food (there’s a lot more snacking than there used to be, but lunch, breakfast and dinner have not gotten smaller) and lack of exercise (recess is apparently an endangered species). Some schools serve a free hot breakfast, which is a problem too, since they are a lot more calorific than the usual bowl of Cheerios.

Part of the problem is that in cooking for a big group, you have to aim for the lowest common denominator, which unfortunately in your case, is terrible. Often, a child will have one veggie that they don’t mind, but each child may have a different veggie that they like (one eats broccoli, one eats cucumbers, etc.). Also, it is well known that kids will just toss out the “healthy” parts of their lunches, which is very demoralizing to the people who are planning meals. When we packed lunches, the fresh apple and orange that went to school often came right back or got thrown out.

I do know that high-quality cafeteria dining is possible in the US (our local college has fabulous cafeterias), but it is a lot more expensive to provide that sort of variety and quality. However, the hopeful thing is that even just 20 years ago, college dining in the US was uniformly awful. So, I think progress at the K-12 level is quite possible. Unfortunately, since you are a foreigner, any suggestions on your part may be taken badly and viewed as judgmental or pushy.

We also have the sweets-all-the-time problem in our local schools. That is definitely a new development. When I was in school, parties and cupcakes for birthdays were a rarety, even in the lower grades. The good news is that there’s less and less of that as the kids get older.

I have a child who gained 23 pounds between her 9th and 10th birthday, which was pretty horrifying (she went from 72 to 95 pounds). Fortunately, she is big enough that she herself was mortified by her weight gain. For a while, though, she alternated between continual lawyering for sweets and complaining about how fat she was. We instituted a rule that the kids were entitled to 1.5 sweets a day under our supervision (we do not demand that the kids report on what happened at school), 2 for a major holiday, birthday or special occasion. The kids have gotten very good about budgeting their sweets (they are definitely weighing the question of whether a particular item is worth it) and our daughter’s weight gain has slowed quite a bit and I’m hoping that she’ll get taller and stretch out a bit. I also really like the new MyPlate guide to what meals should look like, and we are very strict about there being protein, starch, vegetables and fruit at dinner every night. Our oldest should eat more veggies, but it’s a work in progress.

One of the best things you can do is to set a good example with the lunches that you send for school and the treats you send.
 
Don’t try to change the lunch program, because it won’t work and you’ll just offend people.

However, do always make sure to send your child to school with a healthy and tasty lunch. With any luck, their enthusiasm over not eating school lunch will prompt other students to pressure their parents into giving them something from home. That’s how things change.

As far as the fast food, cupcakes, candy, and all the other “treats” (which seem to come frequently enough to be considered part of the regular menu), you have to teach your own child to say no. Americans are fat and unhealthy, yet every time we get together, there is junk food. This is true in schools, offices, social settings, family gatherings, etc. Even going to the store or bank can result in an offer of free junk food. I agree with you that this is damaging and wrong, especially for children. But as they get older, the junk food will be no less common. You have to teach them that there will always be more cupcakes/candy/birthday treats at the next occasion and that it is a good thing to say ‘no thank you’ to those offers. Not every time, of course, but sometimes. When I stop to think about it, I realize that I have to turn down free junk food at least once a day, and that’s not even counting all of the times I’m tempted to buy it. Teaching them to say no to food is a valuable and empowering skill that they need, because this problem is not going away and you can’t shelter them forever.

Before class trips, find out where they’re stopping, look up the menu online, and plan with your child what would be the best thing to order ahead of time. Guide them to healthy options, but let them have (name removed by moderator)ut too and plan the meal together. Frame this as a fun way to learn to take care of themselves so that they can be strong and healthy, not as a punishment.

I grew up very obese, because my mom was very ignorant about food and nutrition, and because we were so poor that even if she had known better, she couldn’t have done anything about it. It makes me angry when people who do know better and who have the means of providing better for their kids fail to do so. The health problems, humiliation, self-esteem problems, bullying, etc that stemmed from my weight were horrible, and no child should have to go through it. (And that’s not even counting the constant struggle as an adult to keep the weight off and not fall back into my old habits. I’ve been at a very healthy, normal weight for over 8 years, but it is still a daily battle.)
 
I read a New Jersey blogger who lives in a really expensive area. She was horrified to discover that her kid’s public school was serving deep-fried cheese sticks as the lunch entree.
 
At the K-8 Catholic school I attended, there was no school lunch program at all. They just didn’t have the space or resources. Once a month or so, they’d order pizza and have students pay by the slice, but otherwise we all brought our own lunches. In our Catholic high school, there was a lunch program but my parents couldn’t afford to pay for lunches so I still brought my own anyway. It’s not that hard to pack a lunch, and it’s the best option if you want to have some control over what she eats.

Remember that it’s very likely they do not have the resources to make the changes you’d like to see, even if you did hire a nutritionist. Unless you are personally willing to both provide the funds and the staff required to implement a more healthy program, I think you will need to address your concerns by providing your daughter with the lunch you want her to have.

If you really would rather not have your daughter eat the snacks they give the kids, or any of the food on field trips, I think BlueEyedLady has given you some good suggestions about how to address that. But as for the lunches, send your daughter with what you want her to eat if the standards at the school don’t meet your expectations.
 
Lorelei 12 said:

“Remember that it’s very likely they do not have the resources to make the changes you’d like to see, even if you did hire a nutritionist. Unless you are personally willing to both provide the funds and the staff required to implement a more healthy program, I think you will need to address your concerns by providing your daughter with the lunch you want her to have.”

Yes.

Bear in mind that if it is a federal program, there probably already is nutritional oversight of some kind, and that they do need to meet certain requirements. I was just browsing this list of updates to the federal hot lunch program, and it’s already highly-regulated. Not very good, but highly-regulated.

fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/nutritionstandards.htm

Because I’ve had gestational diabetes, I myself changed over from eating stuff like a peanut butter sandwich for lunch to trying to make myself a salad every day with stuff like baby spinach, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, a boiled egg, a little bit of cheese, some cherry tomatoes and some dressing. I haven’t done the math, but that sort of salad is obviously considerably more expensive than my old peanut butter sandwich, which could not have cost more than 50 cents. You could easily double or triple the food costs at the school by improving the quality of food, which accounts for a lot of the resistance.
 
Unless they never read a newspaper, go online, or watch tv, most people know about good nutrition. People make their choices, and live with the repercussions.

If it were me, I would pack my child’s lunch, ask them to say no to the treats except maybe once a week, and let it go. People don’t need a nutritional expert to come in and tell them something they already know. Use your money to purchase some healthy foods to donate to the local food bank!

Just my opinion.
 
OP I completely agree with you. My son is vegetarian of his own choice, and we pack his lunch every single day (gladly). One of the small factors in choosing the catholic school over the local public school is that at our Catholic school, no candy, soda or fast food is allowed.

On the other hand, at the public school it is allowed and in fact practically encouraged for parents to join their kids for lunch bearing happy meals including with soda. Candy is given as incentive prizes for behaving as expected. The environment matters, and I didn’t want my child seeing garbage food all day every day. How is that offensive, if it is clearly the simple truth? Processed foods are responsible for attention problems and health problems in children. Why purposely give it to them in school?

In our first year, the PE teacher gave out some candy as rewards and I very politely asked the home room teacher if she was aware of it, and could she look into it as I expected my son to behave because he was asked to, not because M and Ms would be given out. Plus, he isn’t allowed to eat M and Ms. (That might sound extreme, but you haven’t seen my son on food coloring. It definitely aggravates his personality! He doesn’t like how it feels and no one likes how he acts.) she wasn’t aware, and it was addressed, they don’t allow candy rewards.

OP, perhaps start with a teacher conference, and the very simple question of why are there food rewards being given out. At a Catholic school, especially, it seems that behavior can be managed without bribes. Snacks can be healthy instead of junk with just some simple tweaks.

However, the hot lunch is a whole other topic. Since we don’t buy it, I don’t have a say in it. But another mom suggested they drop sweet tea as a drink option (caffeine and tons of sugar? Not a great combo in elementary) and they agreed. Now it’s only water and milk. Change CAN happen, if people ask, agree, and make workable suggestions.

Good luck!
 
When I went to Catholic grade school, maybe a fourth of the kids walked home for lunch and the rest of us brought our lunches. Nobody thought anything of it.

My grandchildren go to a Catholic grade school that has a cafeteria. A lot of the kids are farm kids, and their nutritional needs are very different from those of urban kids. A lot of the kids are in athletics. The school tried to follow the mandated federal dietary guidelines, but the kids were hungry all the time, so the cooks, who theoretically “comply”, actually cheat with extra helpings of certain things, unscheduled “side dishes” and such things.

One person’s “ideal meal” is not the same as another’s.

Finally, there might be biological reasons for differences in dietary preferences. Can a German eat like a Vietnamese and be okay? Can a Vietnamese eat like a German and be okay? I have my doubts as to both. As the OP is probably aware, for example, Indo-Europeans are the only people on earth, the majority of whom retain lactose tolerance into adulthood. There might be other things that are similar. I have two daughters who are without excess body fat or any health problems, but who eat large quantities of beef and thrive on it. I had a maiden aunt who, for perhaps 40 of the last of her 94 years, ate two rib eye steaks and two eggs for breakfast every morning, Never had an ounce of fat on her, but she had a racing metabolism. Would she have lived to 104 if she didn’t eat the way she did? Or would she perhaps have died at 74?

Nobody knows.
 
I will echo the chorus and say “pack your own lunch.” It’s a simple, easy lesson in teaching kids that foods made in your own kitchen are better for you than foods packaged and prepared in a food service kitchen. My kids liken school lunches to fast-food and know it is only a treat and one that is not healthy. They learned their eating habits at home. Parents do a much better job in teaching healthy life styles than any classroom can do or any cafeteria.

Ask your teacher for a list of birthdays to be aware of when treats will be sent in, and also a list of celebrations that will include treats. You can then send in alternate treats (we often did this when our child with nut allergies attended grade school) or teach your child to pass on the treats.

(and I agree that your post was a bit on the insulting side. My kids are skinny and healthy despite being on an American diet.)
 
Just continue to pack your children’s lunches and give them instructions on what they can and cannot accept as far as snacks/candy/etc My kids go to Catholic school and I know how difficult it is for the school to balance wholesome food without breaking a budget–it is not easy. One option the school has provided for the kids is a chef salad available any day of the week. That is easy, relatively healthy compared to other hot lunch options…and my kids will often ask for it. That may be a small step your school could take to cater to the more health conscious kids. (of course, I am not going to be surprised to be met with outrage from other posters about the processed ham and turkey and how horrible salad dressing is etc 😛 )

But beyond that…I think everyone is going a bit far with the bashing of the treats and other junk food opportunities at school. So they have a few class parties every year where the kids get cookies or cupcakes; r a couple of field trips where they stop at a fast food place. I mean really, I don’t think that presents any real dietary danger for the kids.
 
You may need to supply all your daughters lunches for a while. In the meantime you might request a meeting with your Pastor and then those in charge of organizing the lunches at the school. Your concerns are valid, and I wish all schools would get away from the pre-prepared foods due to the sugar and salt content alone.

You may not be able to get folks to eliminate all these things, but you certainly could encourage adding other options. Here are some ideas that help my sister and I. My sister has very specific dietary needs due to Crohns Disease, and we try to focus on getting truly organic foods.
  1. See if your particular school would be willing to start a community garden that would be used for the children’s lunches. Keep in organic. It is easier to start with a mulch garden. This way you don’t have to dig up and make huge trenches. Layer card-board on the ground as a base, cover with peat moss, gardening soil, leaves that have been raked up at the Parish or folks gardens. Commit to NO Pesticides. You will be surprised how nature can take care of bug problems.
Things to plant: tomatoes, green beans, sweet peas, corn, carrots, cabbage.
  1. Introduce more salads and fruits to the menu. Try cottage cheese and peaches, relish trays that have carrots and celery with apple slices. More cheeses to eat with things like rice crackers, soda crackers, or other crispy crunchy fruits like asian pears.
  2. Try tuna for the fish option. Tuna casserole. Tuna melts which are usually made on a muffin with tuna, tomato and cheddar cheese.
  3. Make homemade burritos with beans that are not cooked with lard or fat. But remember fat is not what makes people fat. Sugar is the fat maker. Too little fat and not enough of the good fats is associated with aggressive and violent behavior. A fat free diet is not a good choice and usually fat free foods have sugar added for flavor.
Anyway if you want more ideas you can post me privately or I can keep adding here. Don’t give up. You could be just what the school needs to introduce all the children to other ethnic foods, better eating habits and the joys of gardening.
 
In public schools, the lunch program is considered a key component in the child’s nutrition. In private schools, including Catholic schools, the school lunch program is provided primarily as a convenience for parents who would rather not pack lunches every day.

I don’t know how you would go about trying to dictate how a school organizes something that is a convenience for you and for other parents without offending someone. It’s a little like telling someone that you don’t like the gift they gave you and want them to buy you something different. I know you are paying for the lunches so that’s not a perfect analogy but the sentiment is the same. The school is providing something just to be kind and to help parents out.

That being said, I know that in one school, our PTO did a survey to find out what kinds of food parents and students would like to see added to the lunch rotations. You might want to suggest that to the PTO or parents organization. That way everyone’s preferences could be considered, not just yours.

Also when Lent rolls around, I would be very surprised if the menu doesn’t have a meat-less dish every Friday. The most usual meals I have seen for Catholic school Fridays are fish sticks and macaroni and cheese. But I get the feeling that wouldn’t make you very happy either.
 
Richard, you describe a fairly sorry dietary tale. The US diet and its impacts on children are well known around the world!

Have you had a chat with other parents to try and see how they view the offerings and the practices? Change is most unlikely (inconceivable in fact) if you are the lone voice.

In regard to the classroom treats, you would think that healthier alternatives would be readily available, and the teachers would acknowledge the merits. Alas, I’ve often found teachers, indeed school staff in general, to hold the view that their decisions ought generally to be considered above review, certainly by parents. That’s just my experience though.

Good Luck.
 
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