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
As an educator who teaches in a public school (and has to do lunch duty and sees the horrible sugar and carbohydrate lunches kids bring from home), I am saddened to see so many comments criticizing public schools and educators in general because of this incident. Do I think the matter was handled properly? NO!!! Not by any stretch of the imagination. But does that warrant an all out attack on ALL public schools? I hardly think so. I’ve seen plenty of messed up, socially inept home schooled kids walking around. Should I protest against ALL home schooled children? NO! I believe parents have the right AND responsibility to educate their children however they best see fit, either personally or by proxy of a school system.
What really bothers me is that so many are quick to use negative energy to criticize. Imagine the possibilities if the same people used their energy in a positive, proactive way.
Join forces with others who are like minded. Educate the community. Enlighten school systems. Volunteer in your child’s school/classroom. Teach a community class about benefits of preparing healthy meals.
The problem’s been identified. Just about anyone can rattle off a quick negative, cruel, reactive message. What good will that bring? Very little if any.
But the strong in character will use this horrible situation as an opportunity to be the catalyst for meaningful positive change. So, put your money where your mouth is. Invest your time in becoming the solution to the problem. Help those who are less fortunate (and in this case, less educated about healthy foods) than you.
<<<I am saddened to see so many comments criticizing public schools and educators in general because of this incident
It's not just because of this incident. I've experience it firsthand in public schools all throughout my schoolyears.
<<<But the strong in character will use this horrible situation as an opportunity to be the catalyst for meaningful positive change. So, put your money where your mouth is.
I am. I've been silent on the issue for WAY WAY WAY too long. Not saying anything is just simply letting the abuses continue. Warning people by saying something and rebealing all the illegal abusess by the public schools, public school teachers, principals, adminstrators and staff is the correct thing to do.
I will no longer be silent about it.
<<<What really bothers me is that so many are quick to use negative energy to criticize. Imagine the possibilities if the same people used their energy in a positive, proactive way.
Join forces with others who are like minded. Educate the community
revealing the abuses committed by the public schools IS educating the community. So you are very obvuously against educating the community despite your statements otherwise.
The public schools here (and I found out later also the public schools in other states and police departments ) have instituted the "see something say something" program REQUIRING students to report suspicious behabior they see 24/7 even off school campus off school hours even if those people don't attend that school and their activitties are completely legal (but the student thinks it's suspicious) to the public school staff who then calls the police on those individusuals. (and also REQUIRES the students to report illegal behavior they see.) So now in the U.S. you can get arrested for completely legal things you're doing just because a public school you do NOT attend since you're not a student and even if you're not a minor just because the principal and staff of that school consider it "suspocious behavior" like eating a bowl of grits, since they never seen that kind of food before.
And since the schools say it's required to report these illegal activities under DHS, Obama's citizen taslforce and school rules , then the public schools should not be angry at the people here for reporting their illegal behavior.
After all, they're the ones REQUIRING people to report illegal behavior they see even off school campus off school hours whether the suspect is a student or not, a minor or an adult.
That is just one of the many reasons we did not attend public school. Homeschooling is a great option and they can drink all the Kombucha they want.
It is truly shocking to see what schools are serving children to eat at school. It is as if all nutritional wisdom has been erased. I can only imagine how strange it would be in the public school setting for a child to drink kombucha from home instead of a coca-cola. Kombucha is still feared by the mainstream as being unsafe and an unknown. I have recently been substitute teaching in schools and yesterday I was required to give the students a snack that the regular teacher had purchased and distributes each day after morning math lesson. I was shocked to read the ingredients of the popcorn and pretzels, containing partially-hydrogenated oils, corn syrup and preservatives. Never mind the possible GMO ingredients! I noticed an almost immediate change in the behavior of the class, as kids became almost too wild to manage. In addition, about half of the class of 20 fourth graders receive special services for either being on the autistic spectrum or having some other learning difficulty. It is heart breaking to have to fulfill the agenda of the public schools after being immersed in traditional foods. I kept thinking that if the kids were being raised in France, for example, the situation would be quite different as teaching children to appreciate and taste different foods is part of the national agenda of public education (I just finished reading “Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman).
Thomas Szasz presciently warned against the “therapeutic state” 60 years ago. Few listened and here are the results.
This district needs it’s ass sued. It’s REQUIRED LEGALLY to notify parents just to start with. There are so many infractions here that it is mind boggling.
oh that is so frustrating! I can’t believe they had to go through all that! Friggin ignorant people!! And your supposed to be a school! Your supposed to TEACH!!!!! ERRRRRR
What astounds me is that the parents were not immediately called about this. First of all, this is an elementary child, his MOTHER packed his lunch, so if she packed water, fruit juice, kombucha or whatever, it wasn’t like he really had a say. He brought to school the lunch his mother packed for him. Do they really think elementary kids are walking around going shopping, making their own lunches with their parents unawares? Really?
This is what stands out to me about schools these days, they think they all of these ‘children’ are capable of reasoning and responding as adults would in any given situation. Rather than try to LEARN FROM the child, or use these as opportunities to TEACH children rather than knee jerk reactions, jumping to conclusions and jumping right off to PUNISH rather than try to understand the situation. That is what really drives me crazy.
I understand a teacher being ignorant and ill-informed, all they have to do is simply ask the child, oh that looks interesting I’ve never seen a drink like that, what is it? And if they were confused they could simply walk to the library and google, “kombucha” and learn themselves a little before making so many “ASSumptions”.
Again I am just appalled that the parents were not sought out before making ANY accusations or punishments towards the child, until they were informed what the substance was or was not and how it got there and why. Middle and Highschoolers would be a bit of a different situation since they are much more able to think and do for themselves and understand the situation to explain, but still parents should be called first and foremost regardless.
It’s not really lunch police…that’s just what the overly dramatic are calling the lunchroom staff who are there to make sure the kids are ok. Not fighting, not making messes , etc. It’s totally not OK to leave a lunchroom full of kids unsupervised. Of course, obviously someone there overstepped their bounds, and the subsequent fiasco was ridiculous. But by no means does this type of lunch inspection thing go on everywhere, regularly.
It’s interesting to me that people get so worked up about these articles that only seem to tell HALF the story or less.
Sarah, what would you advise your own children to do if they are ever faced with this situation?