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
Getting back to the point – kombucha is not a controlled substance. It is not illegal. You do not need to have your kids lie about what it is when they bring it to school nor do you need to ask permission from the school as to what to send in your kids’ lunches. The whole idea of food police is insanity. This boy did nothing wrong. The people who interrogated him should be held responsible. I do think we should get soda and candy vending machines out of schools, but no one has the right to be policing these kids’ lunches. It’s all crazy. And the poppy seed thing – really??
Government organizations know nothing about nutrition, and real food. LOL!
Does anyone know what school it was in Newport Mesa? My kids attend Newport Beach Elementary so it would help to know which school it was since I we are a Paleo household and I do brew my own kombucha lol
All I can say is that is main stream ignorance!!!
Why can’t you still be apart of your child’s education if they go to public schools? I’m not asking a community to raise my child. The system is only there to support me and my goals for my child. You people are acting as if the moment your child enters the school your role is over! Please! My son is literally a genius. I don’t know where he got it from but he is. Lol! But I do know where he gets the majority of his education from. ME! And I wish I had other passionate parents in the system.
Your child benefits in the short run! But he will spend more on car insurance to insure one those uneducated public school kids doesn’t still his car. He will have to have a great alarm system to prevent the uneducated from breaking in! Not to mention the amount of taxes he will pay to house the uneducated in prisons. And even if he does all this he still may get mugged by one of those uneducated. Once they leave your house, they will still run into the rest of the world! The best way to protect your child is to make the world they live in a better place!
Sooo…the purpose of your post was to tell us all that your child is a genius?
it was a reply to a post above that got put out as its own post. But I’m not above bragging on my son. lol I was trying to give cred to public schools!
And that’s steal not still
I completely agree that parents can be deeply involved with their children’s education while they attend public school. However, the assumption that homeschooling our children is the equivalent to removing them from society altogether and that it is a cop-out on the system is just that; an assumption. I have homeschooled all six of my children. They are all bright, engaging, happy people. They have a wonderful work-ethic and a thirst for knowledge and understanding. They have and have always had a wide circle of friends and involvement in their church and community. They care deeply about social issues and making the world a better place. And we have a wonderful relationship. All of this can be accomplished because of your involvement in their lives and not whether they learn their ABC’s and calculus away from home or at the dining room table.
I’m not saying they won’t have contact with the rest of the world. I was making a point about those used this ignorant official as their rationality for taking them out of the system. They could choose to view that situation as an opportunity to educate. To increase the knowledge of the general population and possibly the nutrition of a group of kids in their community. That does not absolve the school of their responsibility in that situation. Im sure your kids are great! I’m saying that the way u did it, had consequences. I’m not saying that I would never home school. I’m saying that I see the benefits of group education on society as a whole. What if the family’s that give their kids Kambucha were in that school. Their parents attend PTA meetings, where things like this can be discussed. In that scenario not only could your kid could drink what he wants but you have educated the masses as well.
And what are the consequences of home schooling? Please make sure you list the one of public school as well. Just curious.
the same as in public schools! Dumb kids unprepared for society!
I am a public school teacher and have lunch duty…I am the lunch police. I cannot believe the lunches children show up with. A plethora of drinks (rarely water and when it is water it contains flouride!), white bread, tubes of flavored, colored and sweetened yogurt, candy, the heinous “lunchable”, etc. Believe me, the cafeteria lunch seems downright awesome in light of the horrors in most lunch boxes. As I scope out what my students bring for lunch it is no wonder that I have squirmy, hyperactive children in my classroom.
As for the kid and his komboucha…this lunch cop would have stood on the cafeteria table and led a cheer in his honor…
US is so dumb. Boy am I ever glad to be Canadian!! For starters, we don’t have ‘lunch police’!! If the teacher has a concern regarding the child’s lunch, they call the child’s PARENT! *gasp!*.
You also have socialized (gasp!) healthcare. But you can’t drink raw milk, What’s up?
Why I’m glad I homeschool Reason # 374.
Wow