Wednesday, May 22, 2013

District Proposes Limits to Birthday Celebrations

My grandson recently celebrated his 6th birthday. He was so excited about becoming six and about have a celebration at school on his "special day." As a teacher and principal I remember the ritual of recognizing student birthdays and working to assure that the whole day wasn't impacted by the "party."

So I was interested in a recent decision by the Manchester, NH schools to limit classroom birthday celebrations to once a month. No more individual parties, just a single celebration each month. The policy, under consideration by the Board of Education, is designed to limit consumption of sweets like cupcakes and ice cream and to promote eating fruits and healthier snacks.

As you might expect, not every parent is sold on the change. It's an interesting response to the growing problem of childhood obesity and the disruption of the instructional day.  Here's a link to a story about the policy on a Manchester television station. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts about what Manchester is proposing.

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