Clubs searching for funds commonly turn to student-run bake sales in order to support their weekly meetings. These bake sales often require kids to spend a bit of their own money to either buy or make treats that they can sell to the students, or they need to sell whatever they buy for a bit of a higher price, so that they can actually earn money for their club. Most of the treats can be bought for a cheaper price at one of the stores nearby, so the main appeal of a bake sale is to be able to get the treats without having to walk a few blocks, or to support the club doing the bake sale.

This year though, the district has implemented new policies regulating bake sales that have made it incredibly difficult for clubs to have successful sales. At the start of the year, most clubs learned that they were not allowed to sell anything containing sugar within the grounds of the school, which made it so that events such as the West Seattle Key Club’s annual Hot Chocolate Night were no longer feasible. All subsequent bake sales would have to happen outside as well, no matter what the weather was.

Perhaps there could be some sort of logical reason for this, such as trying to make sure that students eat healthier foods, right? Well, the response that many students were given when they searched for answers was that bake sales would take profits away from the school from students buying school lunches.

However, it is highly doubtful that the occasional bake sale is going to take away a significant amount of money from the school, especially considering that students who want something besides the school lunches can very easily go to a grocery store nearby.

From what I can tell, the only thing that these rules have been doing so far is making bake sales more frustrating for students to set up. Some clubs have had to try to set up broken tents in the pouring rain, while trying to protect baked goods and computers in the process. Then, after all of this work, most students aren’t even aware that a bake sale is happening since the bake sale is not happening in the school.

Recently, some clubs have begun to hear that the rules in place were actually incorrect, and the supposed policies do not allow any bake sales during school hours at all, even if they are off of the grounds of the school. At this rate, there will barely be any bake sales left for students to enjoy, and it will be much more difficult for students to find ways to earn more money for their clubs.

So in all, I believe that the district needs to find a better reason for why the bake sale policies have changed in such a frustrating way, or they need to change the existing policies so that students and clubs alike can still enjoy the occasional bake sale.