IOWA CITY, Iowa – Officials in the Iowa City Community School District are soliciting public input on proposed changes about foods parents can send with students to school that would effectively ban sugary birthday treats.

“The proposal calls for either celebrating students’ birthdays in groups with food or for celebrating birthdays individually with nonfood rewards,” the Iowa City Press-Citizen reports.

It also limits foods parents can send to school with their children to fruits or vegetables, prepackaged foods with listed ingredients, such as string cheese, or foods that meet very strict nutritional parameters. Those foods must be whole grain, trans fat free with less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat per serving. Furthermore, those servings must be under 200 calories and low in sugar and sodium, while high in fiber, according to the news site.

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The proposed restrictions are designed “to make a consistent, districtwide policy,” according to Susie Poulton, Iowa City’s health and student services director. The proposed changes, recommended by the district’s Wellness and Blue Zones School Committee and district administrators, would take effect in the 2015-16 school year, if approved, but they’re currently seeking feedback on the proposal though an Engage Iowa City Schools website, the Press-Citizen reports.

“Poulton said changes would also help the district partner with the Iowa City Blue Zones Project, a program aimed at improving people’s health and well-being,” according to the news site. “She said district officials plan to gather feedback on the proposed changes, narrow the proposal and bring it to the school board’s Policy and Engagement Committee in February.”

The school food restrictions mirror recent federal regulations that strictly limit calories, fat, sugar, sodium and other aspects of foods purchased by students during the school day. Those regulations, imposed on schools through the National School Lunch Program and championed by first lady Michelle Obama, have been wildly unpopular with students since they took effect in 2012, convincing more than a million students to bring their lunch from home.

Not all parents who commented on the Engage Iowa City Schools website are on board with restricting birthday treats.

“Let kids be kids and have fun celebrating themselves,” Jessica K. posted.

“The whole idea behind kids bringing treats to school is to celebrate their birthdays, or simply to share something fun with their friends,” she wrote. “I can’t even tell you how excited my son gets at the thought of bringing something (anything) in to share with his friends. Don’t take that away from him and other kids like him.”

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The move in Iowa City to ban sweet birthday treats comes at the same time officials in Texas announced “Cupcake Amnesty” for public schools. Incoming Texas agriculture secretary Sid Miller declared amnesty for cupcakes this week as a way of reminding schools the state abolished all rules preventing parents from sending cupcakes to school for student birthdays.

The policy in Texas irks school nutrition blogger Bettina Elias Siegel, who told ABC “what I take issue with is bringing treats to school and the kids eating them without their parents’ knowledge or consent.”

“I wanted more control over what my kids ate and when,” she said.

Child nutrition expert James O. Hill, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, said encouraging students to eat healthy is a good thing, but banning certain foods isn’t necessary.

“We have to have some common sense here,” he told ABC. “If your kid is physically active they can afford a cupcake now and then.”

Iowa City’s Poulton acknowledged that a lot of parents feel the same way.

“While I received a lot of positive feedback from parents I spoke with, we received over 800 comments to our proposal in the first 24 hours,” she told ABC. “Many of them were not exactly on board.”