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
“Lunch police” are NOT there for the health/safety of the students; make no mistake, they are there to preserve the BOTTOM LINE.
Was it packed in a beer bottle??
I was wondering the same thing– what on Earth would have made any school official even notice this kid and his drink in the first place?
For the first month of school I sent my two kids with homemade kombucha in glass swingtop bottles. I told them to just say it’s tea if a kid asks. A few days in my son told me that he got a little teased by the kids he sits with and asked if he was drinking beer. I asked why they would have asked that and he told me that when you open the bottle it pops, loudly, and there is a little spray and some “fog” that comes out of the bottle.
To @Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist- What kind of info should we arm our kids with in case of confrontation? I haven’t had a problem yet, but I certainly don’t want something like this to happen!
Stacy, Because it was in a glass bottle.
I totally agree with you Stacy. This act really shows no sense of responsibility.
Kombucha bad – diet soda fine. Ugh.
We have reached the point where the state & the hired “professionals” who carry out its dictates believe they own our children. They view parents as assigned caregivers who can be replaced at any time. Incidents like this reflect that belief. As bad as this case is, I know of one more appalling.
Home or private schooling for those who can make it work is the only way I see to keep children out of the clutches of this monster named public education.
Its only good for your child while other children suffer. The system is broken but it requires good people to commit to help fix it. Walking away isn’t always the answer.
What most people don’t realize is that it doesn’t matter how many good people or good solutions you throw at the problem. The system is broken beyond repair. The very foundation it was built upon is faulty. It doesn’t matter how many excellent building materials you use to prop it up later if the foundation is crumbling. The building will fall eventually, and my children will not be crushed by it.
see my post below! Your kids will be crushed one way or the other. They don’t live in a vacuum. These choices have real consequences!
Do you think I’m not preparing my kids for the real world? We have traveled to 4 continents with them, and they communicate well with everyone. We’ve even taught them wilderness survival skills. They are hardly sheltered or backward. Do you fall for the argument that homeschooled kids are socially inept? It’s simply not true.
I’m sorry if I come across as just a tad grouchy here, but I get weary of correcting this assumption.
And also, I maintain that my kids will not likely be crushed. They and their homeschooled friends will be pulling victims from the wreckage and resuscitating them. We are not uncompassionate, just unwilling to invest in something that cannot work.
to Lauren below. I’m saying no such thing about your children. I’m making the point that those same things you mention can be achieved in public schools. The rest of your comment, I’m sure I understand??
Ditto what Rick said. We send our children to school with either raw milk or home brewed kombucha everyday. What is happening to this family so outrages me that I’ll be all the more ready for the fight.
Any government that seeks to erode the basic freedom of deciding for ourselves what we eat and what we feed our children ca not be trusted to protect any of our freedoms.
Omg, that is so wrong!
Suspended for packing kombucha in the kid’s lunchbox? Now them’s fighting words! All the other kids guzzling the Red Bulls and other assorted neurotoxins contained in the tons of soda products get a free pass? Oh yeah, that’s right, most homemade kombucha is FREE (so no profit margin for the school cafeteria….) thanks for posting healthyhomeeconomist!
SO RIGHT about Redbull, etc. I would go to Pubmed or another such site and print off reams of the latest studies looking at HFCS and GMOs and list all the foods that contain it and all the ills they cause. Then I would toss this encyclopedia size printout on their desk.
awful… let the children eat that crap get reactions/behavioral issues.. then the school nurse suggests that the child has a learning issues & therefore recc to place on drugs.. Nice going govenement. Oh then for each child that is labeled & on gets on a drug recc by nurse/princ the school will get thousands of dollars.. Did anyone know that?????
What a bunch of complete idiots!
This is outrageous, and an unbelievable development. I remember when these drinks were pulled off the shelves a couple of years ago due to their suspected “alcoholic” content, and then I’ve been hearing that in certain states there are signs in the store now which state that you have to be 21 or over to purchase them. How ludicrous! My son has been drinking kombucha every day of his life for the last 4 or more years, and has never become drunk on this beverage. My whole family consumes it daily, and would not be without it. My son also has kombucha in his lunch nearly every day at school (and when it’s not kombucha, it’s raw milk – another substance that is also considered problematic by some). If this happened at my son’s school, I’d get in the face of the person who was responsible so fast, it would make heads spin.
Yes they re-released their original formula and you must be 21 to purchase. You can still buy the reformulated drink if you are under 21. It seems currently you can only find the originals in the pacific northwest. (Just went on a cross country road trip and only found them in Monterrey, California.) Ridiculous, yes…
I think hose school officials should realize that they are modeling the same type of bullying behavior they are trying to stop.
Calling the child to the office summarily. Not allowing the boy to have a parent or a friend at hand. Threatening with a transfer. Asking leading questions. Lying! Kombucha can cause a problem with medications?
I suggest parents buy a Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund magnet for their son’s lunch, and put 703-208-FARM on his cell phone speed dial. Was he read his rights? Did he have the opportunity to request counsel? This burns me up.
Our school system needs to model appropriate behavior.