By Julia Karcewski
Round Table advertising manager
 

It’s been an annual tradition for Middletown High School introduction to business teacher Katie Roberts to make cupcakes for her class to decorate them. The cupcakes are part of a project that simulates creating a business from start to finish through planning, advertising and marketing, then selling the product (cupcakes). Students from five other MHS classes then get the opportunity, based on the marketing, to pick which group’s cupcakes will melt into their mouths.

This year there will be no cupcakes.

Because of a recommendation from the 

 Frederick County Health Department Food Control Office (FCHD), which explains regulations for baked goods brought from home, Roberts cannot make the cupcakes at home anymore.

An email was sent near the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year to all FCPS principals which gave guidance relating to baked goods being distributed at schools. The email included recommendations from FCHD office, which answered the questions that organizations and Frederick County Public Schools have been asking in previous years.

The FCHD states, “One of the most important things to keep in mind with temporary food events is the food must come from an approved source.”

After speaking with Mike Watson, MHS assistant principal, Roberts made a decision that it would be in her best interest and protection of school’s safety to find an “approved source” to donate baked goods to her class. This way, the students would still be able to market and advertise their products; they just wouldn’t be able to decorate their products in their own unique ways.

Dan Strietz, a senior at Middletown High School, said the baked goods recommendation being followed at MHS is “ridiculous.”

“If anyone was going to bring contaminated food to school from home, that person should only be punished,” said Strietz. “Middletown has never been in trouble before, so we shouldn’t have to worry as much.”

 The FCHD Food Control Office recommends that “only non-potentially hazardous baked items be brought in for the students as the food-borne risk is lower with these types of items.”

“We’re just enforcing the recommendation,” said Watson.

An incident at Frederick High School last year also raised the profile of the FCPS recommendation. According to an April 15, 2011, article in The Frederick News-Post, an FHS student brought a cupcake to school that had been contaminated. It was later determined that the cupcake had marijuana in it.  A student who had eaten the cupcake was hospitalized because of the contamination. 

The principal of FHS, Denise Fargo-Devine, sent home a letter that told parents there was a ban on any food being brought into the school that was baked at home.

MHS junior Ally Soule felt she and her classmates were being punished for an isolated incident at another school.

“For English we were having a party and I brought in cookies. Because of the recommendation being followed, I spent almost $20 on cookies that weren’t even good,” said Soule. “I could have baked the cookies for $5 and they would have tasted a lot better.”

In the email sent out to principals, the FCHD answered the question of whether bringing in food to a class falls under the category of an event. The email said that for class parties, allergies are a concern; however, individual class parties are defined as: “a private party.” The FCHD says a private party does not require a permit.

 Watson said the email sent raised the question of why classes are having parties anyways. 

“The classroom should be instructional, and parties are interrupting the instruction,” said Watson.

The FCHD says a permit would be required at a movie night (if popcorn is provided), empty bowls banquets, fun nights, field days, etc.

After speaking with Watson, Roberts began to visit bakeries and shops around Frederick County that she thought would donate to her class. Her first attempt was The Fractured Prune, a donut shop located on East Patrick Street in Frederick. She emailed the manager and got a response within an hour.

The manager thought it would be a great idea, and agreed to donate roughly 300 donuts.

“It’s almost like a trade,” said Roberts. “They donate to help us out, and we get their name known to get them more business.”

Roberts said it’s always important to follow a recommendation because “recommendations almost always turn into rules.”

Roberts has stayed optimistic about her class project despite the initial setback. “It really forced me to look outside of the box,” she said.