Classroom celebrations at Lucia Mar Unified School District are going to look different this school year after officials updated the wellness policy to boost student nutrition.
“While this policy does represent a shift, we are still committed to making birthdays and classroom celebrations special,” district spokesperson Amy Jacobs said. “Food Services continues to offer fun, healthy catering options like pizza parties, themed treats, and more. This approach also helps keep all students safe, particularly those with allergies or dietary restrictions.”
Lucia Mar’s new wellness policy now notes that all food and drinks provided on its campuses must meet or exceed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Smart Snack Standards in classroom celebrations, parties, and snacks.
Class parties must be held after the lunch period if possible. Homemade food for classroom special occasions will no longer be allowed for students during the school day. But homemade food is permitted as lunch and snacks to eat individually.
According to the Smart Snack Guidelines, food items fit for classroom celebrations can’t be higher than 175 calories for elementary school students and can’t exceed 250 calories for middle and high schoolers. The approved food can’t contain more than 35 percent sugar by weight.
Acceptable foods include popcorn, tortilla chips, low-calorie granola, Graham crackers, oatmeal bars, fresh fruit, vegetables, Greek yogurt, and string cheese. Kids can also bring drinking water; milk that’s 1 percent, 2 percent, nonfat, or flavored; rice milk, soymilk, nondairy milk, and fruit and vegetable drinks that contain at least 50 percent fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweeteners.
The district advised using the Alliance for a Healthier Generation Smart Snack Calculator to check if food items meet the new standards.
Nipomo Elementary and Nipomo High parent Jacki Lavender told New Times that the district alerted parents and guardians about the change through an email in August.
Screenshots of the district notice Lavender shared said that kids aren’t allowed to bring cupcakes, pizza, cookies, and other homemade goods to classrooms. Students also “should NOT be eating chips, candies, cookies, or drinking coffee drinks when they walk on to campus and during school.”
But Lavender and a handful of local parents believe the district should follow its own advice first.
“They’re kind of like trying to get the parents to do this before they do it internally. That’s where the frustration comes from,” Lavender said. “We all need to be more healthy. It’s just a matter of them having too much outreach … when they’re giving our kids stuff that has a lot of sugar, but we’re supposed to use a calculator.”
Other parents in Lavender’s Facebook community group discussion on the policy update also claimed that the school district gave their kids ultra processed and sugary foods.
While several parents lauded the district for the change, one parent commented that counting calories could promote unhealthy habits among kids, and another suggested the district should focus on the quality of ingredients instead.
Lucia Mar spokesperson Amy Jacobs told New Times that in the 2024-25 school year, the district introduced more than 20 new recipes made with fresh and local ingredients—including an Asian beef bowl, a birria pupusa plate, Banh Mi sandwiches, and Mexican street corn.
The September lunch menu at Nipomo Elementary incorporated the changes, offering Greek yogurt, granola, and low-fat milk alongside items like teriyaki chicken and brown rice, and pork chili verde homemade sandwiches.
Jacobs added that the state department of education requires that Lucia Mar and other school districts complete a wellness policy assessment every three years.
Lucia Mar’s latest assessment shows that the district achieved strong policies and aligned practices in only three areas—the lunch program meets federal standards, students have consistent and free access to drinking water, and the district encourages staff to model healthy eating and physical activity practices in front of students.
The district needed to work on a slew of areas like regulating what’s served at class parties, ensuring nutrition education addresses agriculture and the food system, and ensuring all competitive food and drinks sold to students during the school day meet nutrition standards.
Other districts are in the process of a wellness policy revamp too.
The San Miguel school district already made changes to not allow parents to bring treats for classroom celebrations. San Luis Coastal Unified School District is currently reviewing its student wellness policy for an update in November while in the meantime encouraging class parties to involve non-food items as much as possible.
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District alsofollows a policy like Lucia Mar’s.
“We also strive to be inclusive of all, and when students have allergies or special diets, this becomes a challenge and is exclusive,” Director of Food Services Jessie Welch said. “We are encouraging parents to bring non-food items to celebrate or have a snack that meets our statewide criteria that is aligned with our Wellness Policy.” ∆
This article appears in Student Guide 2025.