GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Officials in Gainesville schools are encouraging students to make healthy eating decisions by eliminating food choices that don’t comply with Michelle Obama’s school food regulations.

“Whatever we’re doing, we’re trying to get them ready for the future,” Trae Cown, nutrition director for Hall County schools, told the Gainesville Times. “We want to teach them how to make decisions, because we can’t make all of the decisions for them.”

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By teaching students how to make decisions, Cown apparently means eliminating food choices at school that the government doesn’t deem “healthy.” Schools in the district are limiting or eliminating cupcakes and cookies in the classroom for student birthdays, as well as other “incentives” like school pizza parties.

“We ask parents not to bring in cupcakes or things like that for birthdays, and instead to purchase ice cream out of our Healthy Choice ice creams, or to provide something else,” Tadmore Elementary School Principal Robin Gower said. “What I would love for them to do, and what we suggest, is for them to buy a book for the media center and put a nameplate in it.”

Gower told the Gainesville Times if parents really want to bring something in to celebrate their child’s special day, they can hand out pencils and erasers or other school supplies.

Each school in the district sets its own rules for birthday treats, and at Lakeview Academy officials ask parents to exclude all children but their own when sending sweets to school.

“The biggest thing in elementary is birthday parties,” Lakeview Academy head John Kennedy said. “While being sensitive to the parents’ desire to honor their children, we do ask that they not include all of the children when bringing in cupcakes and things other parents may not want their children to have.”

At other schools like Gainesville’s Fair Street International Baccalaureate World School, student can bring in sweets or other munchies for special occasions, but principal Will Campbell said he goes out of his way to make sure students understand what they’re eating.

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“If I see a kid with a big bag of Cheetos, I’ll turn it over to the back side of the packaging where it has the amount per serving and I’ll ask the kids, ‘Have you ever looked at this side of the bag?’” he said.

Hall and Gainesville schools participate in the National School Lunch Program, and are forced to comply with government regulations on calories, fat, sugar, sodium, whole wheat, and other aspects of school food championed by first lady Michelle Obama.

The tightened regulations implemented in 2012 have convinced more than 1.2 million students to drop out of the national lunch program and bring their own lunch from home. The food rules also require students to take a fruit or vegetable, whether or not they plan to eat it, which has increased school food waste by $1 billion annually.

And not all parents think the regulations – and school imposed rules on birthday treats – are helping students learn to moderate their eating.

“Daphne Skinner, whose daughter Bella Skinner attends North Hall Middle School, said she thinks sometimes the school system goes too far. A small sugary treat would be appropriate, she said,” according to the Gainesville Times.

“Mike Whittaker, whose son Austin Whittaker is a rising fifth-grader at Martin Technology Academy, said he thinks schools should communicate better about what’s being served and why.

“Both he and Skinner said kids often don’t like what’s on the lunch line, and since they have to take it anyway, a lot of food is wasted.”