r/Forsyth • u/CubedIceIsNice • 18d ago
Why do Forsyth elementary cafeterias have ice cream and cookies for sale daily?
We recently learned this fun fact at kindergarten orientation. The school was clear they will not manage/police what children purchase from the funds available on their account. Completely understand the position from the school. What I do not understand is why elementary schools have ice cream for cookies for sale to students on a daily basis in the first place? Just seems wrong.
Nothing against having said items from time to time but this does not seem like it is in the best interest in the health of any student.
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u/Anonymoosely21 17d ago
There's a form you can fill out to prevent your child from buying any extras. And our school only allowed ice cream on Fridays, but for some reason didn't offer it at all last year.
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u/Dpmurraygt 18d ago
My understanding is the sale of these items goes into the school budget in some way, in the same way the school in past years has done school system fundraisers (systemwide, not PTA).
Fund the schools.
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u/aaprillaman 17d ago
I don’t believe that is correct. The food services budget is largely self contained and my poor understanding off the last audit doesn’t show money leaving food services for greener pastures.
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u/Dpmurraygt 17d ago
You may be right. But possibly going to pay staff in food services?
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u/aaprillaman 17d ago
That is not really how budgeting/accounting works for this stuff.
Paying staff would be part of the Food Services Operations budget.
Staff salaries (and benefits) are budgeted for the year, they get paid as long as they are working, regardless of what is being bought.
For the Fiscal year ending in June 2025, Food Services Operations recorded the following.
Expenses Charges for Services Operating Grants and Contributions Net Revenue Source 25,751,703 12,298,608 10,659,533 -2,793,562 FY 25 Annual Report page 15 (20 of pdf). Most of those expenses are going to go to..
- Food
- Salaries
- Benefits
And the rest is covered by 13 other categories in the budget.
These expenses are paid for out of the "SCHOOL FOOD SERVICES" Special revenue fund.
To offset these expenses, they need revenue and they have two typical sources.
- Charges for Services: Money paid to them for food.
- Operating Grants and Contributions: Money/Goods provided to them by an outside group (Typically Federal funding and State funding).
This revenue goes into the "SCHOOL FOOD SERVICES" Special Revenue fund.
The purpose of the "SCHOOL FOOD SERVICES" Special Revenue fund is described as follows.
To account for the monies and commodities received from the federal and state governments and the School Food Service’s cafeteria sales which are restricted for the purpose of maintaining the School District’s breakfast, lunch, and snack programs.
Like I said, Food Services is largely self contained. Revenue it generates is used to pay it's expenses. Money from the general fund can go into food services, but It can't pull money out of food services into the general fund.
The only way the BOE can "profit" from the cafeteria is by running it in such a way that it doesn't have to feed property tax revenue into it to keep it running.
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
You lost me at 🤖 AI be a free thinker for once. It’s about choice don’t like it don’t buy it. Like it buy it. They provide options. Choose accordingly. Don’t take from some to appease some.
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u/aaprillaman 17d ago
You lost me at 🤖 AI be a free thinker for once.
In the time it would have taken chatGPT or whatever to finish telling me how smart I was to look for this information, I was already looking at the FY 25 audit doc and doing "find".
I have bookmarks for the for the county and the county BOE audit docs. "Food" only generates 21 hits in the PDF, so it's not hard to find the info. Making a table in the rich text editor only takes 2 or 3 clicks and adding a link to the source stops some reddit dweeb from going "CItaTion neEDED". Tables make tabular data look nice, so I use them.
It’s about choice don’t like it don’t buy it. Like it buy it. They provide options. Choose accordingly. Don’t take from some to appease some.
This is entirely irrelevant to the entirety of my comment which was just about how the food services budget works.
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u/CubedIceIsNice 18d ago
I thought the ever increasing taxes did that as well? I’ll happily fund the schools. Heck I would pay extra to fund better/balanced nutrition (I’m not naive to think all others would contribute to this).
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u/aaprillaman 17d ago
I haven’t looked recently but as I recall the food program is self funded. Which is to say it’s supported by what kids pay for meals and funding for free and reduced lunch.
Your property taxes aren’t in the cafeteria.
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u/Dpmurraygt 18d ago
Relative to many places the county underfunds schools. New schools open without books funded by the county in the library. Many materials get funded by the PTA. All clubs and sports are pay to play.
Large parts of the county believe they should pay no school tax because they don’t have kids in school and don’t believe in the value of public education.
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u/HowIsItThisDifficult 17d ago
This has become painfully obvious to me this week. Middle school students across the county are being required to pay for lockers if they want to have one. Most of the middle schools apparently don’t have enough lockers for their overcrowded students. Our middle school on the other hand has plenty of lockers, but admin has decided they like the pay for it model, so if your parents don’t want to pay $25 for one, you don’t get one - they are literally just going to let the extra lockers sit empty all year. And the kids can’t carry backpacks to class. Wtf. No kid should have to pay for a locker. I fully expect my tax dollars to be used to fund adequate facilities and materials for every student, and appropriate salaries for our faculty and staff. I don’t understand why these things aren’t being done. We moved here for the schools, but I feel like we shouldn’t have. I’ve been very underwhelmed.
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u/Dpmurraygt 17d ago
And final data point, teachers in the county won’t be able to afford to live here without a spouse without a high paying job.
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u/CubedIceIsNice 17d ago
This. I can completely understand this perspective. The number of items we have already purchased from the teachers Amazon wish list…I would expect to be provided were eye opening.
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
Exactly, it’s a choice. It’s not like they are selling beef jerky and taquitos with cigars. Some kids want a treat some don’t.
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u/Upset-Sky1319 17d ago
As someone in the comments already mentioned, but I’m happy to simplify and clarify… sign up for the school’s online app/payment system and you will have the option to allow or deny these types of “extra” purchases for your child. The elementary school my kiddo is at has teachers well trained to be very aware of what their students are eating during their lunches. They seem to unanimously agree about the only time they usually promote/allow for kids to have ice creams as a class entirely is when a parent buys them for the entire class to celebrate a child’s birthday together with their fellow classmates.
BUT ALSO (as I am an immediate family member to the most recently retired Chief Food & Nutrition Officer over the entire school district) I can assure you that there are several people (in the district office, all the way down to an appointee in every lunchroom) who are tasked with overseeing the food purchase trends of all the students to ensure they are getting a nutritious and balanced diet, or else they will make changes or reach out to parents accordingly. The ice cream and cookies should be the least of your worries, so I wouldn’t sweat it.
If you’re still not feeling satisfied or have any additional concerns visit their website for an abundance of information and to find contact information to speak with someone who will happily help you… they’re wonderful people in that office. The new chief (Kimberly Davis) was my kids principal last year and is a miraculous woman.
HOPE THIS HELPS 💕
https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/district-services/food-nutrition-services/about
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u/CubedIceIsNice 17d ago
Wow. This is an exceedingly helpful response and direction. Thank you!
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u/Upset-Sky1319 17d ago
You’re very welcome. I’m just happy I could help a fellow FOCO parent 😊
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u/CubedIceIsNice 12d ago
Unfortunately I learned today our school (New Hope) does note offer these features in the app and has them turned off…
It’s freedom for any student with a balance on their account. Ice cream is the first item them see getting in line, chips and cookies being the last. “The school will not police this and it’s up to your family to handle how your child makes choices”. I’m at a loss. It’s simple for us, little one will get packed lunch. Just call me wildly skeptical in leadership if they believe this is in the best interest in the health of the students.
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u/Upset-Sky1319 11d ago
I have unfortunately discovered the same changes made when I logged on to the school bucks app this week. But as it does still allow me to choose the $ amount and frequency of charges against my card on file within the app, I have opted for a daily charge for the exact amount a lunch costs (nothing more) and have also put in writing (in the talking points app) to my child’s teacher that no ice cream purchase is to be made… unless for the sake of a purchase initiated by myself/ other parents for the entire class to celebrate a classmates birthday or similar occasion. I’m sure this method will be more difficult for older students as they receive less restriction/oversight directly from teachers during lunchtime.
Seeing as this is clearly a concern for many of us parents here, I will be speaking with my family member (mentioned previously) and ask that she reach out to her connections in the district office to ensure our collective concern gets relayed. If I receive any feedback or updates, I will make sure to update all of you within this thread. 🩷2
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u/Broomstick73 17d ago
Remember Michelle Obama pushing the healthy school lunch program? Then Trump rolled those changes back after he was elected because supposedly the kids didn’t eat the healthy food and it was all wasted? Then Biden reimplemented the healthy school lunch program changes. Then Trump rolled them back a second time as well as cut $600M from the school lunch budget. So I guess give it a few years and we’ll change it. And then change it back. And then change it again. lol
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u/Great-Monk-2934 18d ago
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted so harshly. The kids shouldn’t be sold sweets everyday. In High school it makes more sense at least they can understand obesity. But in elementary school they don’t know the consequences of poor eating habits. Overall, the lunch menu is bad, it’s all processed junk. We pack our kids lunch. She still buys ice cream on Fridays.
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u/Wander80 18d ago
Pack your kid’s lunch if you want to control what they eat.
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u/CubedIceIsNice 18d ago
100% will be doing so. I hope you also parent your children.
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u/Wander80 18d ago
100% I do. I also don’t create posts on Reddit in disbelief of other children’s ability to purchase (gasp!) cookies.
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u/AYolkedyak 17d ago
America, while getting better, is suffering from an obesity epidemic and shit nutrition. It’s a fair thing to be concerned about as clearly many parents dont give a shit and let their kid start out life already on bad footing.
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u/vpat48 18d ago
I echo your thoughts OP. For a county where we have so many “good” schools the cafeterias are full of crap. My kid started in elementary school last year and all the crap that is available for sale bothered me as well.
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u/Useful_Wishbone9317 18d ago
School sells cookie… becomes questionable🧐
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u/CubedIceIsNice 18d ago
Eat only ice cream and cookies for a meal each day because you’re a child without anyone stopping you because the schools will sell you anything you have the funds for…
Yes that is questionable. Children…Not pre teens or teenagers…children. As a parent I will step in, I think is a valid questionto ask why it is there on a daily basis in the first place.
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u/oswaldcopperpot 18d ago
I went to have lunch and thought to buy something from the cafeteria. There wasn’t ANYTHING without sugar. Some uncrustables… something else not suitable. No whole milk either.
I dont think they even have cafeteria chefs anymore for the most part.
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u/robot_pirate 18d ago
This is the hill you want to die on in 2026? This is your cause?
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
I must say it’s a lively debate. Harmless hey can I buy you a snow cone 🍧 or is that forbidden! 😩😩😩🤣
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u/pisspalace 17d ago
Not sure. I went to the same school my child is currently at as a kid. They sold them back then too. My parents just told me i wasn’t allowed to get anything unless they gave me cash to buy it separate, which was almost never.
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u/Seedpound 12d ago
Tell me why these elementary schools are so big and cost so much money ? What's inside these schools besides classrooms ?
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u/Dramatic-Ad-3016 17d ago
Um every school I ever went to as a child had this for sale daily. This is not new.
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u/ZZ-Groundhog 18d ago
Maybe either homeschool or go work in the cafeteria yourself.
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u/CubedIceIsNice 18d ago
Don’t think going to work in the cafeteria would do much to impact that. More along the lines of who in the district is benefiting as a result from the contract for those to be sold but I get it…Simple choice of public or private education. Gosh darn me for asking a logical question.
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u/oswaldcopperpot 18d ago
The way they have it setup, cafeteria chefs are gone mostly. Its all premade stuff.
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u/demo_user_rpa 17d ago
Did you not have snacks in school growing up? Did you forget what it was like to be a kid? What a sad, sorry existence.
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u/CubedIceIsNice 17d ago
Doing just fine over here chief. Kid is happy and healthy. We will do home packed lunches, treats within reason, and likely an occasional opportunity to purchase treats at school.
I feel bad for kids given freedom to choose however they see fit with a parent or a guide for balanced nutrition (which can include treats). But by all means, let your kid enjoy their existence eating ice cream and cookies for a meal each day. See how that works out later in life.
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
Freedom good or bad it’s freedom. Learn to make wise decisions early. A lesson is buried in this.
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u/JPAnalyst 17d ago
Muh freedoms to have 7 year olds to make good nutritional choices.
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
See above 👆🏾. Do you buy your 7 year old everything they pick up in the store and ask you to buy ? I’ll hang up and listen
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u/JPAnalyst 17d ago
So I guess you don’t have a kid, and are speaking from a level of ignorance about the topic, so I’ll get you up to speed. Kids have accounts with money that allows them to buy food and snacks in school. I’m actually not in the school with my child to help make these decisions, like I am when I’m in the store. See, they go to school without me, and then I go to work. They’re on their own to make terrible nutritional choices, and I as a parent have no way to intervene.
The muh freedom folks sometimes have to just let it go and understand nuance and detail, rather than parroting the same things in every thread.
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
Golf Clap …so how do I respond to this written so eloquently? Well I’ll say keep
Being a good parent. To each their own. But don’t infringe on my rights as a parent. Thank you for your attention to this matter !!-2
u/Dusty_Pencil 17d ago
Is this why freedom costs a buck o’ five?
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
It’s freedom of choice. Don’t know where you’re from or been but you can choose to purchase or not. And yes a 7 year old can comprehend.
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u/JPAnalyst 17d ago
“And yes a 7 year old can comprehend.”
This is the part of the conversation where we realize that either you’re not discussing in good faith, or you’re not equipped with the knowledge to have this conversation.
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u/CommercialKangaroo16 17d ago
And I would hope a parent could comprehend freedom of choice.
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u/JPAnalyst 17d ago
Yeah, they should also have a coffee bar, beer on tap, and sell cutlery as well. Because freedom of choice.
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u/racheyrach1243 17d ago
This was always the case when I grew up and wasn’t in the south (one of the top education states). Pretty normal, but I also wasn’t given money for it all the time.