The Wellness Policy, which was created and is regularly updated by the Oak Park Board of Education, is now being enforced more strictly on Oak Park campuses. This has affected the fundraising efforts of several classes and clubs.

“Collectively in the past all of [the Associated Student Body] has sold Mrs. Fields cookies within the community, raising $2500 each year.  The choir has sold World’s Finest chocolates and brought in $2500,” ASB Director Heidi Cissell said. “All of these fundraisers are not allowed to continue, because they don’t meet the guidelines of the school’s Wellness Policy.”

The Wellness Policy at Oak Park High School is laid out in the bill AR 5030, which was last updated Oct. 17, 2017. The policy gives guidelines for foods that can be sold in the cafeteria as part of the Schools Meals Program. There is a separate guideline for “Competitive Foods.” AR 5030 defines Competitive Foods as “any food or beverage sold to students on school campus during the school day and outside of the School Meals Program.” These foods are seen at athletic events and in campus fundraisers.

“[The OPUSD Wellness Policy] has improved the quality of food we offer on campus and at school events. It has also required us to be more creative and aware of how we conduct fundraisers that involve food or candy,” Principal Kevin Buchanan said.

The main goal of the Wellness Policy is to provide the best quality food to students when they are on campus. The fundraisers, while the most affected, are finding new ways to generate funds.

“It stinks that we haven’t made progress with finding a new fundraiser, because there’s only so much you can do that will appeal to kids and other providing funds at the high school level,” ASB sophomore Anna Stephens said.

While the process to find a new fundraiser is difficult, the organizations that are affected by the policy have recognized the administration for putting the needs of the students before the money that the school may need.

“While I admit it’s frustrating and very time consuming to always have to ‘reinvent the wheel’ and come up with new ideas on how to fundraise, we respect the reasons behind the administration, school board and Superintendent Dr. Tony Knight in establishing such strict guidelines for the well-being of our students on campus,” Cissell said. “We have an amazing school, with such wonderful, intelligent students, who I know will come up with solutions that will satisfy both the needs and wishes of both the administration and student body.”