No more birthday treats

NEW LONDON – The New London Board of Education approved updating the district’s Wellness Policy, which now advises staff not to use food as an incentive for students and directs parents to not send food items to school to be given to other students for such things as birthday celebrations.
The second reading of the policy changes was approved at the board’s July 8 meeting. Board member Mark Grossman was absent from that meeting.
At the board’s June 24 meeting, the board reviewed the proposed changes to the Wellness Policy. New London Superintendent Scott Bleck told the board that the District Wellness Committee met in May to review the district’s Wellness Policy and Administrative Guidelines. The Committee consisted of 13 members representing district staff and families.
According to the Topic Summary Sheet (TSS) for the board meeting, “The committee’s focus was to evaluate practices related to food items provided to students by school staff and families during the school day and to ensure district practices support students’ social-emotional, physical, and nutritional well-being while promoting healthy lifestyle habits.”
Also, according to the TSS, the Wellness Committee identified several factors for its recommendations:

• The use of food as a reward can negatively impact students’ long-term nutritional habits and overall health.
• Safety concerns exist related to food allergies, intolerances, diabetes management, and choking hazards.
• Food-based celebrations and rewards can unintentionally create inequalities for students and families and may contribute to feeling of exclusion.
• Recognizing and celebrating student accomplishments, milestones, and positive behaviors remains an important part of the school experience.
Bleck told the board that the proposed administrative guideline for wellness would have a “good cause exemption” for the purpose of “honoring school traditions or fostering school community.” The good cause exemption “may be granted with prior approval of the building principal or the principal’s designee.”
“Something that rarely happens but for whatever those extenuating good cause reasons would be, play into an incentive that is recognized as beneficial to the greater group,” Bleck told the board.
Under the previous administrative guidelines for wellness, district staff were encouraged to use non-food items as incentives. Also, food incentives given to students were recommended to meet the nutritional standards for Smart Snacks in School.
The newly adopted administrative guidelines for wellness changed the above to: “Staff will utilize non-food items for all incentives. This aligns with best practice recommendations related to food allergies/intolerances, equity for all students/families, and promoting healthy eating habits.”
Also, in the previous administrative guidelines for wellness, it was stated that the district would encourage families to consider the district’s wellness policy and to consider it when providing classroom treats.
That was replaced in the newly adopted administrative guidelines to, “Notify families of the district’s Wellness policy and communicate that non-food items will be used for classroom celebrations (birthdays, holidays, etc.) Any food items sent to school will be returned home. A list of non-food items can be provided if requested.”
Sarah Johnson, director of Pupil Services for the School District of New London, reiterated to the board that parents were represented on the district’s Wellness Committee that developed the proposed recommendations.
Board Vice President Katie Batten asked how the district would communicate to parents that the district is no longer doing “birthday treats.”
Johnson said the district will start communicating that message to families using several communication channels.
“Very excited about learning about all the other non-food kind of ways we can celebrate and leaning into those, which I think is going to be very exciting for our students,” Johnson said.
Board Clerk Holly Schweitzer asked what kind of non-food items could be used for birthday celebrations.
Johnson said families may decide not to send anything with their child to school for their birthday celebration.
“They don’t need to be sending anything, and we can celebrate and acknowledge birthdays just as a part of our classrooms,” Johnson said. “…People are so creative. I’m sure that we’re gonna come up with some fun ideas.”