"elementary schools" news and stories

To celebrate their 35th anniversary, Starbucks is serving drinks from cups bearing their original logo for the month of September. The logo (top right) shows the Starbucks mermaid in full, complete with split tails and bare chest, unlike the more streamlined version that is usually seen in their stores.

BloggingBaby mentioned that a Seattle area school saw some problems with the more detailed logo. The principle or an elementary school in Kent, Washington has asked teachers to make sure that the logo on their coffee cups is completely covered up if they bring it into school. A spokeswoman said that the principle "thought that it could be distracting for students."

Some students, like one 12-year old, said that students would definitely talk about the logo if they noticed it and said that the rule was a good idea. Parents in the area largely thought it was unnecessary, especially considering the very small size of the logo on the cups, and commenters at BloggingBaby felt the same way. Schools, they felt, have bigger problems to worry about than an inch high drawing on a coffee cup that isn't particularly scandalous.

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Schools have been considering and enacting bans on unhealthy snacks, from eliminating soda machines to setting strict nutritional standards for foods that are brought in to sell to the cafeteria at lunch. The goal is to avoid putting students into situations where, perhaps due to peer pressure, they choose nutritionally poor foods over healthier ones. Some obesity-conscious educators want to take things even further and ban outside snacks from the school yard. This would not only effect the treats that teachers bring in to celebrate birthdays and other events, which would no longer include cupcakes or cookies, but could potentially change the way that parents pack lunches for their children.  A few schools even have bans of sweet foods at school parties, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Every bite counts because of concerns over childhood obesity, experts say," but they also should look at the amount of time children spend in school, and what they're doing with that time. Suggesting that parents provide smaller or healthier treats is certainly a positive step towards combatting childhood obesity, but it is not a suitable solution to the obesity problem when schools are also cutting the length of and funding for sports programs and recesses. Nutritionists say that diet and exercise together are the keys to a healthy lifestyle, not diet alone. That standard is the one that should be enacted in more schools before kids are left with only celery and raisins at snack time.

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