Parents Fight For The Right To Sell Treats At School
Chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles - Given painful budget cuts in the New York school system, parents say their homemade confections are a more wholesome way to help fund school programs. (Stan Honda / AFP/Getty Images)
Psssst. Hey, kid. You want some of the sweet stuff? You know, sugar, the Granulated Monkey?
Anisa Romero, mom to a pre-kindergarten student in New York City, would definitely hook you up. She and her PTA crew recently brought a slew of pastries and goodies to City Hall for a bake sale — and protest.
New York City parents are demanding the right to bake their cake and sell it, too, after the city's schools began enforcing a once-a-month limit on PTA bake sales during the school day. Student groups are prohibited altogether from selling home-baked items as fundraisers. Education officials say they want only approved, packaged snacks sold in the hallways because of health concerns. But parents argue that their homemade goodies are a more wholesome way to help fund school programs in the wake of painful budget cuts in the New York school system.
Romero refers to her PTA posse as "Renegade Mommas" as she offers up a slice of vegan chocolate cake — just the kind of caloric temptation that gets New York school officials really frosted.
What's particularly galling to parents is that city schools are permitted to sell junk food as long as it has a package and a label and meets certain guidelines.
So parents and students can fundraise anytime they want with Cool Ranch Doritos or whole-grain Pop-Tarts or Quaker Oats granola bars. The packaged food just has to have fewer than 200 calories and not more than 35 percent fat.
PTA parent Leanne O'Conner held up one of her banned chocolate chip cookies, which she says is made with "organic butter, brown sugar, eggs, flour, cinnamon and chocolate chips." By contrast, the label on a Linden's chocolate chip cookie — Department of Education-approved — lists flour, soybean oil, chocolate chips, maltodextrin and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil.
"I didn't put any [maltodextrin] in mine," she says. "There's no partially hydrogenated anything in mine."
It's easy to make fun of the rules. Even the man who has to defend them seems reluctant to take on the Renegade Mommas. David Cantor, press secretary for the New York City Department of Education, stood quietly at the edge of the City Hall bake sale.
"We have no way of knowing what nutritional content food brought from home has," Cantor says, noting that he recently saw a picture of a school bake sale featuring chocolate chip cookies with bacon.
"We're trying to balance two things: the need to deal with the major child obesity epidemic — 40 percent of our kids [in New York schools] are obese or overweight — with the need to allow parents and kids to fundraise for their schools and extracurricular activities," he says.
And as organic as some treats might be, they're still desserts. Romero admits that even though her chocolate cake is vegan, it isn't particularly healthful.
"Yeah, yeah — it's full of calories," she says. "But I am all about my sweets. But I want them to be real sweets. Good, nutritious, homemade sweets."
So in New York City, it has come down to this: industrial junk food vs. homemade junk food. But what are schools going to do? Pay for art supplies with broccoli and Brussels sprouts?
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now from toxic assets to fattening ones. In New York City, parents are demanding the right to put on bake sales. In the interest of encouraging kids to eat better, New York schools have clamped down on cupcake-pushing PTAs, allowing only approved package snacks to be sold in the hallways. And that has parents insisting that they be allowed to bake their cake and sell it, too. NPR's Robert Smith reports.
ROBERT SMITH: Psst. Hey, kid. You looking for some of the sweet stuff? You know, sugar, glucose, big white, sweet cane, the granulated monkey? I got a connection.
Ms. ANISA ROMERO(ph): My name's Anisa Romero. My daughter's in pre-k in East Village Community School.
SMITH: And this mom will definitely hook you up.
Ms. ROMERO: I brought a vegan chocolate cake.
SMITH: But Romero and her PTA crew are no longer lurking in the school yard to pedal these treats. Theyve brought their elicit pastries and their kids down to City Hall for a protest bake sale.
Ms. ROMERO: Renegade mommas, I guess. Want a piece of chocolate cake?
SMITH: Ah, thats how they get you. Next thing you know it's all Rice Krispie Treats and lemon bars. It's that caloric temptation thats worrying school officials her. They're now enforcing a once a month limit on PTA bake sales during the day.
The problem, Romero says, is that the crackdown is coming, just as the PTA is trying to make up for painful budget cuts in the New York City school system.
Ms. ROMERO: Our schools raise money for most of the programs like music and art, and that sort of thing.
SMITH: But what is particularly galling to these parents, the thing that inspired dozens of them to haul their cupcakes down to City Hall, is that in New York City you are allowed to sell junk food in the schools - it just has to have a package and a label and meet certain guidelines. So parents of students can fundraise anytime they want with Cool Ranch Doritos. They can sell whole grain Pop Tarts and Quaker Oats granola bars.
The package food just has to have less than 200 calories and have only 35 percent fat. So let's compare. PTA parent Leigh Anne O'Connor holds up one of her banned chocolate chip cookies.
Ms. LEIGH ANNE O'CONNOR (PTA Member, East Village Community School): Organic butter, brown sugar, eggs, flour, cinnamon and chocolate chips.
SMITH: Im holding in my hand a Department of Education approved product.
Ms. O'CONNOR: Mm-hmm.
SMITH: Here its Linden's chocolate chip cookies and look at this: flour, soy bean oil, chocolate chips - yeah, yeah, yeah - maltodextrin. And you dont have enough maltodextrin in yours.
Ms. O'CONNOR: I didnt put any in mine. No, maltodextrin.
SMITH: Partially hydrogenated cotton seed oil, you got in there?
Ms. O'CONNOR: There's no partially hydrogenated anything in mine.
SMITH: Okay, it is way too easy to make fun of these regulations. Even the man who has to defend the rules seems reluctant to take on all these moms and cute kids. David Cantor just stands back quietly, at the edge of the bake sale. He's the press secretary for the New York Department of Education.
Mr. DAVID CANTOR (Press Secretary, New York Department of Education): We have no way of knowing what kind of nutritional content food brought from home has.
SMITH: Cantor says he recently saw a picture of a school bake sale featuring chocolate chip cookies made with bacon.
Mr. CANTOR: We're trying to balance two things: The need to deal with the major child obesity epidemic - 40 percent of our kids are obese or overweight - with the need to allow parents and kids to fundraise for their schools and their extracurricular activity.
SMITH: It may be a hard balance for these particular PTA members to appreciate. I didnt see an overweight parent or child in the bunch. Their bake sale products are locally sourced, they're reasonably sized. This, of course, is not the situation at most New York City public schools.
And as organic as these bake sales may be, we're still talking about desserts here. Anisa Romero, she of the vegan chocolate cake, admits that it isnt particularly good for you.
Ms. ROMERO: It, yeah, is full calories, but I am all about my sweets. But I want them to be real sweets. Good, nutritious homemade sweets.
SMITH: So in New York it comes down to this choice: industrial junk food or homemade junk food. Ah, what you going to do? You dont pay for art supplies by selling broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
SMITH: Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
