Jessica Brown

jlbrown@enquirer.com

Students' birthday celebrations at Burlington Elementary School can include singing, balloons and recognition in morning announcements. But as of this month they can no longer include cake. Or ice cream. Or food, period.

Burlington Elementary School, part of the Boone County school district, revised its wellness policy this year. Among the changes: no food allowed at school birthday celebrations.

Non-food treats are still allowed. The policy gives as examples pencils, erasers, bookmarks.

It's one of very few schools to make the move. And it hasn't been easy.

"We're finding it's difficult to be the first," said Valerie Bailey, whose son goes to Burlington Elementary. She's on the PTA and on the committee that helped craft the policy. "Parents say it's not fair. But we hope it sends a message to the parents and kids, especially with the obesity rate being so high, and puts a bug in their ear."

The new rule may seem drastic. But it may be part of a growing trend as the nation gets more intent on making sure students get healthy food at school.

To be clear, the federal government does not ban birthday cake. Nor does it ban pizza parties or bake sales – all notions that have gotten a lot of attention in recent years.

It does encourage healthy eating and has made a series of major rule-changes and recommendations in the past few years toward that end. Schools must comply if they want to continue receiving federal money for school meals. Fort Thomas recently opted out.

The changes are aimed at combating the growing childhood obesity rate nationwide. That was the main goal of Burlington Elementary when it revised its wellness policy last month to include the no-food-for-birthdays rule.

"About 37 percent of our children are at risk (for obesity) or obese," said Kathy Reutman, who is in charge of making sure the wellness policies for Boone County schools meet federal guidelines.

"It's not up to us to tell parents what to do," she said. "But when children are in our care we make sure that nothing gets in the way of them and their learning. Food allergies or too much sugar get in the way of that."

The wellness policy includes several new provisions, but the birthday cake ban is the most controversial.

Bailey, the PTA mom who helped with the policy, said it was a difficult decision. "I hesitated at first," she said.

But she thinks it makes sense from a health standpoint, and from a practical one. Birthday parties were taking up too much class time, she said. Students would bring in large packs of cupcakes, or other sweets that took lots of time to pass out and clean up. Sometimes there would be three such celebrations in a day.

"They (teachers) were struggling with how to manage birthday celebrations. Not that there are always three a day, but it was getting over the top," she said.

The school had also recently joined the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which helps schools create federally-accepted wellness policies. Because of all of this, the change made sense.

It didn't come without pain.

"There was quite a bit of push back the first week," Bailey said. "But once people started seeing the reasoning for it and realizing there were other options, they're starting to get creative and find alternatives to still celebrate birthdays."

For example, one student brought jump ropes for the class and they had a jump rope party to celebrate his birthday.

It's not uncommon for schools make rules about in-class treats due to food allergies. Many encourage – but don't' mandate – healthy food for celebrations.

The Enquirer found only one other local school district with a similar rule. Southgate, a one-school district in Campbell County has restricted birthday food for awhile, said Superintendent Jim Palm. It also won an award from the Northern Kentucky Health Department for its policies.

In Ohio, the region's largest district, Cincinnati Public Schools, encourages healthy eating at its schools, but doesn't ban birthday food.

"If a class wants to have a pizza party or bring in a cake, that's fine. As long as it's not charged for profit or for a fundraiser or ticket, there's no law regulating this."

While rare locally, birthday-cake bans are springing up elsewhere across country.

An entire district in the Seattle suburbs recently banned birthday cake and other birthday sweets from elementary school parties, according to news reports. Today.com reports birthday cake bans in schools in Louisville; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Boulder, Colo.; and Minneapolis. Many still allow healthy treats.

In Burlington, school officials say fun doesn't have to include food.

"Our biggest thing is making sure the kids are safe and healthy and ready to learn," said Reutman.

Did the feds ban birthday cake?

The answer is no. Here's the rundown on what the government regulates, and doesn't.

• The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was revamped in 2010 to require healthier school breakfast and lunches – more vegetables, less fat, etc. Schools had to revamp their menus.

• This summer it added a Smart Snacks program that regulates the nutritional content of foods sold at school snack bars.

• When it comes to bake sales and food fundraisers, states make the rules. In Ohio and Kentucky they're still allowed, but they can't "compete" with the school food. Generally that means they must take place before or after school. Some states only allow a certain number a year.

• Giving food as a reward is a no-no. But there's room for interpretation. For example, that may mean teachers can't hand out candy for good grades, but an adopt-a-class pizza party is probably OK.

• All schools are required to have a "wellness policy." The details of the policies are left up to the schools. It's within this policy that some schools have created the restrictions on birthday food.

Many districts are re-doing their policies in advance of a federal update to the guidelines due out this spring.