Were you ever the kid in elementary school who would always bring in snacks to school for your birthday or a special event? You know, the one who would always bring a cookie cake or cupcakes? I know I was. It was the best time of my life. What would you do if your school district made a new policy to where you were no longer allowed to share food with anyone or even have parties? This is exactly what parkway is trying to do. Parkway’s new Food Safety Protocol discourages students from bringing food and sharing it with others. I really do not like this new rule because it takes away the biggest part of any celebration, the delicious food.

So what is this new food protocol exactly? Well, it won’t be official until the 2017-2018 school year. The current protocol is an attempt to protect people with different food allergies. According to the Food Safety Protocol, Parkway wants to discourage kids from bringing food in order to follow sanitary and allergy concerns. No homemade food should be allowed in the classrooms and the food a student brings in is not to be shared with anyone. This is also a way for the school to try and get kids to eat healthy. In my opinion, students at South High are old enough to realize what food they are allergic to and whether or not they should eat it. The food protocol also says that all birthday celebrations are to be celebrated a different way than giving out treats or handing out food.

This includes taking away our ac lab parties. In my opinion, the school should have separate ac labs for students with certain food allergies so we would not have to worry about the food allergies. The students in the allergy free ac labs can have ac lab parties that suit them well, and the students can have a regular ac lab party.

If the school wants to keep people safe from food then why do we still have peanuts in the vending machines? The school should stop selling peanuts and almonds if they really want the schools to be safe. The school wants us to be safe with food when they are putting foods that are highly common for kids to be allergic to in the vending machines at school. I think if the school wants to keep students safe and healthy, start buy taking the peanuts out of the vending machines so students can not by them. I also think that if students bring their own lunch, then they should not be allowed to bring anything like peanuts or strawberries. That should be banned.

I disagree with this food policy because this is unfair towards students and the students without a food allergy should be able to bring whatever they want. Students who have a food allergy should know what they can eat and what they can or cannot bring to school. This should be the students decision not the schools decision. Also, teachers can no longer use food to motivate students or give them rewards. In my opinion, that is the best part of any review game or just motivation in general. According to the new protocol, birthday celebrations will no longer be able to have food during their celebrations at school. I really don’t think this is necessary. I think the students should be able to eat whatever they want to eat and if they want to share their food they can just ask the person if they have a food allergy before sharing the food. According to information the district gave to parkway, only 1 in 25 students have a food allergy and 20 percent of students will have a reaction to it. Also, 25 percent will have a reaction without knowing about the allergy. In my opinion, I think this is aimed for more toward Kindergarten students than high school. Students in high school should know what they are allergic to and what they are not allergic to.

So to wrap it up, I do not agree with this food policy because it is unfair toward students that have a food allergy and they should be able to bring whatever they want to bring. Its up to the students who have a food allergy to tell that person that they are allergic to whatever food they are eating. It should not be the school’s responsibility to take care of an allergy that a student may have. The food policy should allow students to have ac lab parties and just be cautious of the people around who may be allergic to some food.