By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Princeton school district will limit the number of days elementary and middle students can buy ice cream at lunch and permit fewer student birthday parties in elementary school, all in a move to reduce the amount of sugar in students’ diets.
The changes are part of a policy that the Board of Education will vote on, and likely adopt, Aug. 29, said board member Dafna Kendal on Friday. The policy will also prohibit teachers from denying students recess as a form of punishment for misbehaving or not doing their homework.
The new rules will take effect for the upcoming school year.
In terms of ice cream sales, children will be able to buy the desert only one day a week, on a day the building principal designates, Kendal said. The district’s food service provider, Nutri-Serve Food Management Inc., supports the change, she said.
“The recommended shift to serving ice cream once a week at the elementary schools is designed to reduce our students’ consumption of sugar and fat and be more reflective of community standards. Most parents are not serving ice cream to their children every day for lunch,” Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said.
A Nutri-Serve representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Also, student birthday parties will be allowed only once a month, Kendal said. In part, that policy is also about ensuring “equity,” she said, given that some parents cannot afford to bring in cupcakes or other treats.
“The recommendation to have a common time each month to hold birthday celebrations in the classroom is also an attempt to reduce consumption of more sugary treats,” Cochrane said. “Moreover, the recommendation addresses an issue of equity as not all of our families have the means to provide treats for every student in the class.”
The changes follow the recommendations of a wellness committee that Cochrane had appointed, including school nurses.
“The recommendation not to take away recess as a means of discipline is consistent with model policies around the country,” Cochrane said. “Children need physical activity each day and both learn and behave better when they have it. In the Princeton Public Schools, our approaches to discipline are built around an ethic of learning and an ethic of care. Temporary removal of recess may make sense if a student has behaved in a way at recess that endangers him or herself or others. Otherwise, we would search for different ways to help students reflect on their behavior and learn from their mistakes.”
