There are 4 soda machines outside of the student cafeteria. Two all sodas, one bottled water and one juices. Perhaps in this little district (joke - one of the largest in the country) the rules are different - ha ha ha.
As far as the catalog fundraisers, my opinion is that these won't be affected as long as the items are not sold on campus. (It might be harder to justify one that is exclusively candy where they take the cases of candy bars.) But the catalog pre-sales that happen to include candy as an item should be okay. (And by the way - did you notice cookies are NOT one of the restricted items? It's only certain candy.)
On the vending machines, it doesn't matter who owns them. The school cannot "provide or allow access to" the items prohibited. So if the coke machine is in the teacher's lounge - that's one thing. If it's in a student area, it should be subject to the rules.
While I'm not new to PTO, I am new to being a PTO mom in Texas having moved in the middle of last year to this awesome state. This is all news to me, and I'm chairing the (yee hah!) wrapping paper fundraisers at both the elementary and middle schools which start this week and next. (Check back later to be sure I'm still breathing!) Anyway - both of these catalog sales have candy as an offering. While we won't be selling during school hours, we will distribute on school property after school hours and those who don't get picked up - we'll deliver to the classrooms of the middle schoolers. Am I in big trouble here????????????
Of a more humorous nature (or so I think, anyway) while volunteering at the middle school today I wanted a diet soda. There are several soda machines - all of which have sodas - but no diet. The vendor happened to be there taking money out of the machines and I asked why no diet - at first he said that they weren't allowed because of middle school girls and eating disorders, and added that no kids wanted diet sodas anyway (a bit contradictory, but what can I say.) I'm wondering if they are getting around this by having the machines be 100% provided and serviced by the vendor and not by the school itself.
P.S. I was able to find a diet soda in the machine in the teacher's lounge.
My husband and I were talking last night about that fact that neither of us remembers candy given out as treats/rewards when we were kids. (We grew up in different places) But then we also recalled the focus was more on punishment for unacceptable behaviour rather than rewards. So that's probably a positive change.
As far as low cost treats, one idea is to have more major rewards and give the children tokens towards purchasing them or tickets towards a random drawing. Both have worked well for some of our teachers - especially the gymn teacher who always opposed candy as a reward.
Stickers, pencils, bookmarks, continue to be possibilities, as well as increased recognition and privileges. No matter what -kids are fickle. What's cool now might be unbearable soon. We have a drawer full of pencils that say I got caught doing something good. Last year these were treasured rewards my kids got in various classes. This year, neither one will be caught dead with one in their school supply box. "Lunch with the Principal" is a coveted prize for our younger grades, but the 5th graders rolled their eyes. "Puh-leeze!! Like I want to do THAT!"
...And that's why JHB has her own special wing in the PTO Hall of Fame, folks.
Gosh -- that's one darn restrictive policy. Teacher can't even toss out a candy as a reward in class. Ouch.
I can certainly see lots of districts erring on the side of caution after reading that stuff. Feels like Prohibition.
I'd be interested to see how cookie dough sales measure up. My guess is they'd be OK, as the kids can't/don't eat the dough -- it goes home. Looks like strict, traditional candy sales could be trouble, unless a group was very careful to not deliver or sell during school hours (one man's reading of this -- don't quote me).
Good news is that there are plenty of fundraising options that are fine. We'll continue to follow this story.
You have some very serious reading to do. But in the meantime. I'd love some other ideas on incentives besides candy. I know it's usually the easiest and cheapest. But it does set a bad example. Any ideas.
We do the wrapping paper thing for our fundraiser. Candy is sold also but they will usually provide any kind of catalog you want.
I know this sounds crazy but, we made over $700 last night at our Preview from the Drive for Kids we saw at the PTO show. Turn key no brainer fundraiser.
