AMHERST — Every year at the Amherst Regional Middle School, the student club People for Color United puts on a cultural bake sale where students prepare ethnic dishes.
Whether it is spring rolls, empanadas or fried bread, the food becomes a way for students to present their heritage to others and broaden the understanding of diverse backgrounds, while also raising money for programs, activities and field trips.
Similarly, the French Club has its own bake sale fundraiser, the Student Council gives out candy for Halloween and does candygrams for Valentine’s Day, which this year was to be one ring pop along with roses, while food and drink is always a perk of attending school dances.
Yet all of these are in jeopardy, members of the Student Council say, as school administrators launch new enforcement of existing policies related to how food is distributed in the building, possibly because of a recent food allergy incident at an elementary school.
“Banning the distribution of food is only being implemented at the middle school,” says Sofia Contreras, an eighth grader who co-chairs the Student Council. “Essentially, it makes it so we can’t have any bake sales.”
Contreras is among four eighth-grade members of the Student Council’s food policy committee who used the public comment period at a recent Amherst Regional School Committee meeting to bring to the attention of school leaders how the rules are affecting the fun, social-building events they and others have.
Aika Takahashi, also a member of the council, said typically four bake sales happen each year that are affected by the rules, the first being the one planned by the French Club.
“At first the French Club event was postponed, then it was canceled, ” Takahashi said.
“French Club couldn’t hold their bake sale, even though they had planned it out,” Contreras said.
Another council member, Lily Khant, said losing the food fundraisers means that necessary money will have to come out of pocket, possibly from teacher-advisers. “For French Club, the bake sale was needed for money for a field trip,” Khant said.
Fellow student Jonah Spitzer said the fundraisers are consequential, raising around $300 for field trips and celebrations that play a crucial role in fostering a strong sense of belonging.
“We didn’t do the regular candygram,” Spitzer said, explaining that by only having a ring pop, allergies would be avoided. “But the school nurse denied our request,” Spitzer said. “The response was an outright no.”
Two days after the School Committee meeting, the students had their regular Student Council meeting in a middle school classroom, where they continued their advocacy on the food distribution policy, with intent to write a letter to the school committee, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman and Principal Juan Rodriguez asking for a more detailed explanation.
One subgroup of the council, though, spent time planning out spirit week, likely to be in the middle of March, and another focused on a thrift shop to raise money through the sale of clothing that will be sorted and stored and then displayed on racks for a one-day sale.
Meanwhile, seventh graders on the council are setting out to learn more about the Chestnut Street Academy, where sixth graders from Amherst will be educated in the fall in a section of the same school building. They had lots of questions and are asking for a meeting, with insights sought on whether adding more students would affect the quality of the Wi-Fi in the school, whether these students would be able to join clubs and if they could be part of band, orchestra and chorus.
Conteraras said students haven’t been informed, other than being told by teachers, about the new policy.
“It feels like they grouped us in with the elementary schools,” Spitzer said, adding that many students feel this is demeaning, since the high school has been able to continue having bake sales.
Two policies may be at the root of the change.
One is “The Life Threatening Allergies Policy,” adopted by the committee October 2014, which states, “The districts will make reasonable accommodations for the allergy or physical sensitivity needs of students and staff to support the physical, social, and emotional well-being of all to promote learning,” and cites both Centers for Disease Control and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education rules.
The other is “Wellness Policy,” last revised in March 2022. That states, “All meals and beverages made available during the regular school day or during school-sponsored programming shall meet or exceed DESE’s Nutrition Standards and U.S. Dietary Guidelines.”
The students have offered to modify some of their events, such as ones held in the cafeteria, which would be divided into both sides of the room, and to print out a list of all ingredients. But they worry about getting approval from the school nurse, even for having pizza and potato chips.
“Clubs just don’t bother anymore,” Contreras said. “It definitely has reduced the fun.”
And for the dances, which have been fundraisers, such as last year for hurricane relief, they worry they won’t be able to have any refreshments at all. “We probably won’t have food and drink at the dance,” Contreras said.
“What’s the point of having the dance without food and drink?” Khant said.
The students find irony in that they are being educated in a building that has possible health risks, such as contamination in drinking water and ceiling tiles falling down and caving in, bathrooms being closed due to broken soap dispensers and scent-free zones not being enforced.
In the cafeteria, breakfast pastries are served that are filled with sugar and potentially harmful dyes.
Students also are constantly sharing food with each other that they bring from home, even though this could carry more risks than a structured bake sale.
“It feels like they’re focusing on the wrong things,” Contreras said. “It may look good to them, but it really doesn’t do anything.”
Like with candygrams, they argue it is a student’s own choice to buy food, and that parents wouldn’t give them the money to participate in bake sales if there were concerns.
Even if there is no change, Khant said at least the students got their message out.
“It did seem they heard our issues and how it’s affecting us,” Khant said. “But they just want no more distribution of food.”