Birthday cake banned in Arlington Heights schools

"Birthday carrots" may be the newest thing in some Arlington Heights schools.

The Arlington Heights Elementary School District 25 school board has banned birthday cakes and cupcakes next year as part of a new wellness policy.

There will still be birthday parties -- parents just can't send cakes or cupcakes to school with their kids on their birthdays, said Superintendent Sarah Jerome.

"There will be celebrations," Jerome said. "Maybe the child will be the principal for a day, or pick out a special book or lead the class line to the cafeteria."

The school board recently approved the new "wellness and allergy policy," which included the birthday cake and cupcake change. While limiting sweets, it rolls back a ban on allergens that wasn't being rigorously enforced.

The new policy does allow kids to bring in "sweet treats" on a few special days such as Halloween and Valentine's Day. Jerome called those holidays "traditional candy events."

However, on those days kids must also bring in something healthy. So along with the mini-Snickers bar, there should be a carrot stick, Jerome said.

"There was a debate and some people wanted to delete all sweets, but we decided instead to include a healthy alternative," she said.

The policy also prohibits teachers from using food as an instruction tool. For example, teachers won't be able to use M&Ms to teach counting.

School board member Dan Petro voted against the "sweet treat" part of the policy. He said the policy doesn't make sense because it prohibits sweets such as birthday cakes, but allows sweets on Halloween and Valentine's Day.

"We're allowing sweets, just not in cupcake form," Petro said. "It's an inconsistent policy. We should've left the policy alone."

The school board has been reviewing the food policy for months.

In September 2006, Arlington Heights resident Denis Jones complained to the board and district officials that some food items contained peanuts even though the District 25 policy prohibited food containing peanuts.

Jones' son has a severe allergy to peanuts. For months, he found cafeteria food labels containing peanuts.

He notified school district officials who promised to look into it. The next school year, in December, Jones said his son reported Reese's Puffs cereal in the school cafeteria. After some research, Jones found many other food labels for items sometimes served in the cafeteria that list peanuts in the ingredient list.

Turns out, he was right.

The new policy removes wording claiming the district is peanut-free. It also says the district can't guarantee all food service in the lunch program is allergen-free.

There will still be tables for students allergic to peanuts and there will still be peanut-free meals available next year, Jerome said.

Less than 1 percent of the nation's schools totally ban allergens, Jerome said.

Jones is not thrilled with the new policy.

"The board changed the policy to reflect their bad behavior," said Jones. Jones, through the Freedom of Information Act, received 282 pages of what he calls "violations," or foods that contain peanuts.

"I'm disappointed," Jones said. "They de-emphasized the responsibility of the district and put it solely on the parents and students."

The entire policy is at www.ahsd25.k12.il.us.