The lunch police have struck again. First, there was the story of a preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School in North Carolina who was given a highly processed, cafeteria lunch containing pink slime chicken nuggets because the school decided that the turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice her mother packed was not nutritious enough.
Now comes the story of an elementary school boy from Newport Beach, California who was suspended from school this week for the kombucha in his lunchbox that school administration said violated the school district’s drug and alcohol policy.
The boy’s mother contacted me 2 days ago the very afternoon her son was suspended in a plea to help her resolve the situation.
The trouble apparently started because the kombucha drink was packed in a glass bottle which is the appropriate container for this healthy, vitamin and probiotic filled beverage. The mother even took care to safely place the glass bottle in a foam sleeve as I’ve demonstrated in my videos which is exactly what I do for my own children so that if the bottle is dropped, it would not break and cause harm. It is important to note that the mother had sent kombucha to school in her son’s lunch many times before with no problem.
When the lunch police noticed the glass bottle safely tucked into the foam sleeve in the child’s lunchbox, they confiscated it. The next morning, the boy was called into the Vice Principal’s office and interrogated about the drink and where he got it. The school even called in the Police Officer assigned to work with all the schools in the area.
The Police Officer told the boy that the kombucha was illegal and very dangerous if he takes any medications – antibiotics or anything. Then, the officer asked the boy point blank if he takes any medicines.
Most outrageously, the Vice Principal told the boy that he may have to transfer out of that school and that she was looking into it. She even tried to enroll him in an alcoholics class for teens! The boy ended up spending the entire day in the school office and then was suspended for 5 days for violating the school’s drug and alcohol policy. The issue was also reported to the Newport-Mesa School District. Lest the school or the district deny the child was suspended or try to spin the story, the boy did indeed SIGN a 5 day suspension form.
It is important to note that these events took place without the school even attempting to test the alcoholic content of the kombucha or conducting due diligence of any kind which would have revealed that kombucha is a healthy beverage similar to apple cider and clearly not the equivalent of beer or wine.
The child’s distraught mother managed to get a meeting with the school’s Vice Principal the next morning who informed her that the Principal had decided to retract the suspension and not pursue the issue further. The child was then immediately allowed to return to school.
Unfortunately, the incident had already been reported to the Newport-Mesa school district so it is possible that the parents of the boy could face additional disciplinary action if the school district decides to pursue the matter.
The worst aspect of this incident is the extreme embarrassment, emotional trauma and shame the child no doubt experienced for being called out by the lunch police and then interrogated like a criminal the next day by school administration and even a uniformed Police Officer!
When I talked to the Vice Principal on the phone yesterday, she acted as if the incident was minor and that everything had been resolved satisfactorily. What? Giving a child the third degree in the school office with a Police Officer standing by and no parent present to defend him is no minor scene!
This incident could have far reaching implications for the child’s emotional state and could even result in bullying or snide remarks from classmates for years to come!
For all you traditional cooking Moms and Dads out there who also send healthy homemade foods and drinks in your child’s lunch, it may prove worthwhile to have a discussion with your children about this story and what to do should school administration ever harass them about the contents of their lunchbox.
I will keep tabs on this story in the coming days and if the Newport-Mesa School District decides to do something ridiculous like pursue disciplinary action against this family, I will be sure to let you all know so that the phone lines can light up and public pressure exerted to restore sanity to the situation.
**Update: Following the publishing of this article, the Newport-Mesa School District issued a press release regarding this incident. Click here for the full transcript and rebuttal.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
That is why you can only buy it in liquor stores…….not.
Serious idiocy.
I’m drinking Kombucha right now! While driving. Uh-oh. Is a DUI next?? Idiots.
I’m drinking Kombucha right now! While driving. Uh-oh. Is a DUI next?? Idiots.
I agree that the police being brought in is big problem. Let them question my son without me around and they will get an ear full. Then I’m gonna sue! But what I was so surprised at, after reading the posts here, was how many people here don’t see the social damage that is done when parents pull kids from public schools. It only benefits your kid! And only in the short term. Public schools die, not because they’re controlled by ignorant a$$holes(which they are sometimes), but because some parents give up! Yes ,dealing with the system is hard but any real change is! WHAT ARE YOU REALLY TEACHING YOUR KIDS?! If my government is broken or my schools are broken its up to me to fix them. Don’t abnegate your responsibility to the whole to the benefit the one!
Yes, you’ve told us the same thing several times. See above. Broken foundation. Building falling.
BC, it is not my nor my children’s responsiblity to assimiliate into a system which was faulty to begin with. As a socially responsible adult it is my job to raise responsible, reasoning, productive adults. If as adults they want to help with ‘real change’ when they are emotionally, intellectually and physically capable, then I would wholeheartedly support them. If you want to fix the system by keeping your children in it, I’d love to know how it works out for you!
Yes the system has some serious problems, ONE of which is that students, parents and resources are taken out of it! So while actively helping break the system, you ridicule and denigrate it?? There are plenty of children who came up the thru the public system, who are those things you mentioned also. My point is Thanks for the help! Not!
I did not attack, ridicule or denigrate the system, simply pointed out that it was faulty from the beginning. It is an interesting assertation that homeschoolers are helping to break something that has already been broken by not participating in the brokeness, hmmmm. I think I may have struck a cord with you, did something I said ring too true? Have you been able to create positive, meaningful change from within the system? I do not disagree with you about children who came through the system well, I am one of them. I also believe that there are good schools out there, just not near enough. I assert that it is in spite of the system, which continues to degenerate to this day.
If you live in the states your tax dollars are going to the system. You are a part of it whether you like it or not. Yes, I am arguing for the system(In this case). If you don’t want to fix it or participate in it, that is your choice. And your right. However, if you choose to spout off about how bad the system is, you should be prepared, if say a teacher, a principle, school administrators or any other concerned citizen challenges your ideas. Maybe it’s a futile effort, to work from within but unless you have something constructive to say then all you’re doing is mouthing off!
no. I remember very well what it was like when I was in public school. Which was the entire time I was in school.
Sending your kids to public schools IS “child abuse”
child abuse is illegal.
The ones taking their kids out of public schools and homeschooling them or sending them to private schools are the ones who are doing the right correct thing.
D: seriously?? Good thing I’m homeschooling 😉
As disappointing as the ignorance display by this administrator and their staff was, what I find the most disturbing is the growing trend of “police state” tactics that are allowed to take place in schools. I was a police officer for 10 years and would NEVER HAVE DREAMED of conducting investigatory questioning of a juvenile, especially an elementary school aged one, for a suspected offense this minor without their parent or other interested adult present to be my point of contact (minor as in non-life threatening or of imminent danger – true underage drinking is a serious issue, of course).
The youth of today are being desensitized to totalitarianism one brick at a time: fenced schools, police displaying explicit and reflexive solidarity with authority over the accused, invasive questioning without responsible and intelligent representation – I could go on. I do not believe this is because of some “Illuminati” conspiracy. It’s because today’s parenting generation is uninvested in the youth. It is simply “easier” to warehouse the kids these days while we go out and earn a living. Unfortunately, we’ve now also allowed them to become a new surrogate family responsible for accountability and discipline in their life as well.
This behavior needs to cease on everyone’s part.
HOMESCHOOL!
This is what ignorance looks like.
The parents should have just poured it into a drink thermos so the lunchroom monitors would never have known!
<<<The parents should have just poured it into a drink thermos so the lunchroom monitors would never have known!
haven't you heard? Theremos's are no longer allowed in public schools.
They suspend students for those also, if they bring them.
And lunchboxes aren't allowed either. They get suspended for bringing those also.
That leavves paper bags, (plastic not allowed because it's dangerous and kids can get smothered in it), but they'll probably start suspending kids for bringing their lunch in paper bags also since that is what winos use.
Some school districts such as Chicago have even outlawed the students from bringing lunch from home altogether. The ONLY thing they are allowed to have is the highly unnutritious school-served lunches. With all the unhealthy gmo and all the other unhealthy stuff.
Of course, the reason the school states they are doing this is so that the "kids will be healthier".
I saw statistics that the most fat obese kids currently in the U.S. are the ones who eat the school-served lunches.
The ones the public schools claim are the "healthiest" and "healthy".
Yet the same schools complain if they find out the parents are serving the same kind of stuff (or even the same thing) to the kids at home and call child services on them for serving the kids "unhealthy food".