School Boards Propose Ban on $10-million in Revenue

Campbellford, Ont.– To address rising rates of childhood obesity, the Ontario government, with support from the Dieticians of Canada, has rightly targeted in-school nutritional standards. They’re demanding that public elementary and secondary schools in the province adopt recommendations set out in a new School Food and Beverage Policy that came into effect September 1, 2011. The issue is, some school boards are ignoring the spirit and intent of Memorandum 150, which explicitly exempts “food and beverages that are sold for fundraising activities that occur off school premises.” They’re moving to ban parents’ right to allow children to raise money for charity through off-school chocolate fundraisers. Yet shouldn’t parents, who are actually helping with the fundraising for the schools, have a say?