9486 in the collection  

Davis students can't use bake sales to raise dough

Ohanian Comment: I am
an inveterate buyer of home-cooked items
offered on cardtables at various venues. My
favorite this summer were Pakistani items
offered at a nearby park every Saturday.
Farmers brought their produce and a few locals
offered home-cooked food.

The main reason I don't vote absentee is that
we vote at the local school, and I want to
check out what the 8th graders are offering at
their table.

My life would definitely be diminished without
local strawberry shortcake socials and the pie
a la mode event at the Rokeby Museum and lunch
every Monday at the Senior Center. So far I've
skipped the chicken pot pie suppers and the ox
roast, but I keep saying I'll go one year.

We suffer much more harm from the corporate
politicos in Washington D. C. than from our
neighbor's fresh-baked oatmeal cookies. And
certainly I feel far safer eating those cookies
than government-approved beef shipped from
afar.

By Hudson Sangree

It's as American as apple pie, chocolate chip
cookies and banana-nut bread.

But at Davis Senior High School, the old-
fashioned bake sale is a thing of the past.

School officials have forbidden students from
selling homemade cookies and cupcakes to raise
money for their campus clubs or favorite
charities.

Food prepared in home kitchens violates federal
health laws, according to school rules handed
down last month.

"If you wish to violate this order, your club
will be disbanded," reads one provision.

Also banned are club meetings without a teacher
present. "NO exceptions," say the rules.

And students can no longer accept cash at
charity fundraisers – only checks – to avoid
accounting irregularities.

The rules have raised a ruckus on campus.
Students call them new and unfair.

They are protesting, including through a page
on the social networking Web site Facebook
titled "Petition to retract the new rules for
clubs."

So far, 181 students have signed up.

Administrators insist the rules have been
around for years but that enforcement has been
lax.

"Students always believe that when something
comes their way, it is entirely new," said
Pamela Mari, the Davis Joint Unified School
District's director of student services and a
former vice principal at Davis High.

Other school districts are in compliance, and
Davis needs to be more strict to comply with
state and federal laws, officials insist.

That might be the case, said Tilman Heyer,
president of the high school's German club.

But he argued that the newly strict enforcement
is discouraging students from taking part in
extracurricular activities and raising money
for charities.

"I understand why they have to do it, but I
don't think it's very productive," he said.
"Our clubs raised a lot of money last year."

The 17-year-old senior says his club has
traditionally raised money by selling homemade
baked goods.

This year, they bought pastries from a retail
bakery in Davis and sold them at a loss at a
club event in September.

Heyer said he's worried about a language fair
in November – traditionally the German club's
biggest fundraiser.

The club raises money to support Heifer
International, which buys farm animals for
families in developing nations.

Last year, a carwash, international film
festival and a food concession brought in $800,
he said.

"We bought a goat, some rabbits and some pigs,"
Heyer said.

Anna Schickele, 16, wrote about the rules
controversy for the student newspaper.

She's also a member of Freedom from Hunger,
which she says might disband because it can't
sell homemade food.

The requirement that students write checks for
a slice of pizza or a carwash was absurd, she
said.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "I don't know any
people my age who have checkbooks."

She said she's heard there may be revisions in
the works.

In the meantime, student groups are
increasingly moving their activities off campus
or looking for loopholes to avoid the
restrictions, she said.

Principal Michael Cawley remembers the days of
school bake sales. Some rules, he said, can
seem unreasonable.

It's all part of complying with state and
federal regulations, he said.

"We don't make 'em up," he said. "We just try
to enforce them."

— Hudson Sangree
Sacramento Bee
2008-10-10


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