As the new school year begins at LHS, students are noticing a rule on the TVs around school. The rule states that fast food will no longer be allowed to be brought in or delivered to school. 

Many students were not exactly enthused to be told what they could and could not have for lunch. The big questions, who did this and why, were answered by LHS principal Dr. Laura Raeder.

“It’s being advertised and talked about at a district level, whereas before it was just a building level,” said Dr. Raeder.

This is not just a way for LHS to make students’ lives more complicated. Instead, it is the Sioux Falls School District that made this rule and decided this year should be healthier. Still, the school cannot tell students to throw away their lunch.

“We go ahead and talk to the child and say, ‘Hey, you can’t bring fast food for lunch,’ and they usually say, ‘I did not know that,’” said Dr. Raeder. “Then we have the student eat the food in the office.”

No one is the bad guy in this situation, and no one wants students to not have something to eat. Dr. Raeder is only enforcing what she has been told to enforce. Dr. Raeder shared a document from the Sioux Falls School District called The Healthy Food Guide. After reading the document, Dr. Raeder showed me the Special Events Column.

“They were going to take away our pizza!” said Dr. Raeder.

Every year during Homecoming we have pizza on Friday, and by the SFSD imposing this rule, it was not allowed. Luckily, Dr. Raeder saved the school and Homecoming pizza got an exemption from the SFSD. The document from the SFSD not only discusses fast food but birthday treats and prizes. 

 Dr. Raeder summarized the document from the SFSD.

“They’re advocating that it’s not a food thing,” said Dr. Raeder.

Now birthday treats and prizes should be items like cheese sticks, veggie straws or inedible objects like pencils. If teachers wish to have food items, the document recommends they ask principals to help purchase a SFSD Child Nutrition Snack. 

Students should know that just like Dr. Raeder, the SFSD is not taking away junk food for no reason. The document states, “There is a time and place for everything. Fast food should be left to families.”