Chantel Rodriguez

Staff Writer

Cvr5570@psu.edu

A school district in Pennsylvania faces backlash from parents due to limiting the number of snacks students can bring.

A post from the Aliquippa Junior/Senior High School District stated that students had been bringing “an excessive amount of outside snacks,” such as bags full of chips and canned beverages. Aliquippa is about 22 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. 

The Facebook post stated: “Beginning on Monday, April 4, 2022, each student will only be permitted one 4-ounce bag of outside snacks, and one beverage allowed up to 20 oz.” 

The students would now have security examine backpacks in the morning and toss out any food except their specified items. If the snack is opened outside before entering the school, officials will throw it away also.

Parents were upset, and the school district quietly deleted the post, hesitant if they would continue with the plan to implement the new policy. The school district spokesperson has not commented about the deletion of the post.

But before the school district took down the Facebook post, the post itself garnered hundreds of comments by parents who voiced their opinions on how they felt about the new changes. 

“You’re going to tell parents what they can and cannot send for their child to eat? That’s absurd! Maybe if school lunches weren’t so tiny and gross, they wouldn’t need to bring extra snacks,” one person mentioned.

Another remarked, “Lunch Police.” 

And another individual commented, “Maybe they should stay out of the parenting business and focus on giving our kids a quality education.” 

Other parents agreed with the policy and felt it was necessary. 

One commenter on the post said, “I don’t remember being allowed to have food outside of the cafeteria when I was in school, so I find it weird that the school district even has to request this.” 

“I’ve seen some of the snacks kids bring in when I drop my daughter off,” said parent Janisha Walker.

“I’m my asking daughter like, ‘Are they setting up a small store? Why are they carrying a variety box of chips and two liters of soda into the school?” Janisha said. 

District Superintendent Phillip Woods told NBC affiliate WPXI of Pittsburgh that the ruling to reduce snacks was made because students were advertising and exchanging their snacks, causing distractions in and outside of classrooms.

An Aliquippa school board member Catherine Colalella said, “The children aren’t going to starve because they do have free meals for breakfast and lunch. We kind of have to look at the bigger picture and understand what’s reasonable”. 

She continued, “I don’t think any child needs to bring in family-size bags of chips for the day. And a diabetic child isn’t going to bring family-sized bags of chips for themselves because they can’t eat that stuff.”

The school district did have a message to all the responders on the original Facebook post. 

“Thank you all for your feedback. If you have children in the district, please contact your building principal,” the district wrote. “If you are an internet heckler, continue as you were.”