The Warren County School District shouldn’t simply ban shared snacks like birthday cupcakes or cookies.

School board members discussed the idea during their most recent meeting. Instead of shared snacks, parents would be asked to donate to the school’s PTO to pay for a snack through Nutrition Inc. Concerns over avoiding allergic reactions to some foods shouldn’t be dismissed, nor should stigmatizing students who are unable to bring snacks. But in our opinion, Arthur Stewart’s that ending such shared special occasion snacks is just one more opportunity to remove parents from the educational experience.

“What this policy would do would terminate the parents’ ability to bring snacks to the classroom” Stewart said. “It denies this opportunity that we’ve had for generations to have the parents join the school atmosphere.”

We agree.

It’s fine to make the Nutrition Inc. system available, but other school districts have been able to allow parents to provide shared snacks despite the presence of food allergies in the classroom. Some districts have an approved snacks list or requirements that anything sent from home be individually wrapped and sealed. Some districts request parents avoid some foods in the entire classroom’s lunch because of peanut allergies, so those rooms have special requirements for both school lunches and special event foods. It’s not always easy, but at a time when parent involvement in schools has been extremely limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing the after school snack tradition is one way to make parents more involved in schools.

There is a middle option between a snack free-for-all and the antiseptic donation to the PTA. That is the road the school district should choose.