School Cracks Down on Candy Pushers

Schools have enough trouble stopping the sales of drugs. Now one school is bothering to try to prevent the sales of candy and other unhealthy food in school:

The New Haven schools superintendent said Wednesday that he will review a principal’s decision to suspend an eighth-grade student for buying candy in school.

Michael Sheridan was stripped of his title as class vice president, barred from attending an honors student dinner and suspended for a day after buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate.

The New Haven school system banned candy sales in 2003 as part of a districtwide school wellness policy, said school spokeswoman Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo.

Shelli Sheridan, Michael’s mother, told the New Haven Register that he is a top student with no previous disciplinary problems.

It is at least good to see that the superintendent is reviewing the decision. While it might make sense to try to reduce the amount of candy eaten by children, a suspension such as this is quite excessive. The school’s policy is that “no candy or junk food fundraisers will be allowed on school grounds.” A total ban also sounds excessive. The goal should be to teach children about a health diet, which for most people does include occasional treats. Even the American Diabetes Association has loosed their recommendations in recent years to allow an occasional treat, recognizing that this is more realistic than totally prohibiting them in their diet plans.

A betterĀ  goal than banning unhealthy food would be to have the students understand what constitutes a healthy diet so that they can hopefully be able to make healthier choices throughout their lives. Most people are not going to totally abstain, and a policy of total prohibition in the schools might actually be counterproductive as it gives the students no experience in school of balancing a healthy diet with some treats. Beside, they are going to do what they want once they get out of school. There is absolutely no point in making an otherwise good student suffer such unjustified punishment.

5 Comments

  1. 1
    Jenn says:

    And yet New Haven claims that police officers shouldn’t be allowed under any circumstances to check the immigration status of even criminals who are arrested. Or that identity theft by illegals should be condoned.

    A minor buys one bag of skittles from a friend at school, is suspended and penalized merely because as a kid he decided to buy candy.

    Citizens of New Haven, working poor and struggling middle class citizens who are black, brown and white can be denied their ability to work, kids can’t buy candy in school, but illegal aliens can violate federal immigration law, violate employment law, displace American workers, help drag down their wages.

    Tell me, does it have to come to doctors being displaced or their earnings dragged down before they pick up on the simple fact that this insanity doesn’t stop at blue collar and tech workers?

  2. 2
    NatetheGrate says:

    Whoa, Jenn. You left out global warming and the Big Bang! Aren’t illegal aliens responsible for that, too?

  3. 3
    Ron Chusid says:

    Nate,

    It’s hard to say. There’s a high correlation between people who blame everything on illegal aliens and people who deny global warming and stick to the biblical explanation for the creation of the universe. Perhaps they blame illegal aliens for spreading what they see as false beliefs in global warming and cosmology.

  4. 4
    mothermaven says:

    I agree the response to candy incident was heavy-handed. If there is a policy against sales of candy on school property, the property should have been confiscated and that is all. I oppose candy sales and sales of unhealthy food on school grounds. If kids want candy, they can get some off school campus on their own time. Kids are forced to attend school and the last thing they need is to have be undernourished and overfed on school grounds.

  5. 5
    erica says:

    Wow,suspended for selling candy.Thats way out there.Who cares about taking junk food out of school and selling whole grain lunches?Its really stupid to tell you students this is the healthy way to eat and its good for you when you have teachers drinking SODA during class and sending out for McDonalds double cheeseburgers everyday.Doesn’t make any sense does it? WHy should i bother with the letter sent home from the P.E. teacher stating that they want me to feed my kids healthier meals when they eat quarter pounders with cheese and double whoppers? I do feed my kids healthy foods and sometimes use candy as a reward.I think its extreme.Makes you wonder what there doing by throwing up this smoke screen and what it is they don’t want us to really see.

Leave a comment