Birthday celebrations are no longer allowed at Cape Elizabeth Middle School.

In a newsletter first printed Nov. 15, Middle School Principal Steven Connolly asked parents to stop sending edible treats for birthdays.

Connolly said he wants to protect children from social, emotional and physical harm associated with birthdays. He launched this policy initially with the aim of protecting children with potentially lethal allergies to things like peanuts and latex.

With 600 students at the middle school, there is an average of at least one birthday celebrated daily, said Connolly. “Any given day, there’s something sitting in the office,” he said.

Through this policy, Connolly hopes to tackle three ongoing issues: student allergies, prioritizing academic focus and protecting kids from exclusion.

Allergies

National trends indicate increasing occurrences of allergies in school-age children. The middle school newsletter counted eight middle school and 20 Pond Cove students with high-risk allergies.

Food allergies are caused when the body mistakenly identifies a substance as harmful. In reaction, the immune system creates antibodies to protect the body from what it perceives as harmful intrusion by that substance, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, a nationwide non-profit based in Fairfax, Va.

The Food Allergy Web site also cited The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which reported that the occurrence of peanut allergies doubled in children over a five year period. According to the 2000 U.S. Census report, one out of every 125 children has a peanut allergy.

“Cupcakes and the like are nice,” said Connolly, “but I am more concerned about student health.” Like Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier’s approach, Connolly’s plan is a no-risk approach.

Two years ago, Pond Cove instituted a similar policy – no more birthday sweets. Eismeier said the majority of parents favored the policy.

“It pleased 80 percent of the people. The other 20 percent I heard from,” he said.

Columbus, Ohio, transplant Annie Dineen moved to Cape Elizabeth with her family last week. Her daughter Hannah, 11, attended a private school in Columbus where birthday parties were regular occurrences.

She is not a fan of the policy. “I think that is kind of crazy,” she said. Dineen considers school recognition of birthdays important.

Her daughter, Hannah Dineen, said that at her last school birthdays were acknowledged in multiple ways. A private school, the students wore uniforms. On birthdays they were allowed “free clothes,” which set them apart, indicating that it was their “special day,” said Hannah.

Claudia Dricot, mother of two children in the Cape Elizabeth School system, sees both sides of the coin. “It’s kind of too bad,” she said, “but I understand why.”

Her third-grader, Talus Andolsek, has a classmate with a severe peanut allergy. Every morning, before entering the classroom, the students must wash their hands to prevent exposing their classmate to anything that might trigger an allergic reaction.

“If you had a child who could die, you’d probably be pretty concerned about that,” she said. “That has made me really aware of the whole issue.”

Anne Mayre Dexter, principal of Wentworth Intermediate School in Scarborough, said birthday snacks are allowed in the classroom there.

It is the joint responsibility of the parents, teachers and clinic to keep the children with allergies safe. Parents will contact the clinic, which then contacts the teacher about the child with the allergy.

At that point, teachers are responsible for relaying that message to the other parents in the class. “Teachers will always send notes home to parents alerting them to allergies in the classroom,” said Dexter, so that parents know, “this is a no peanut zone.”

In this way, the school is doing everything in its power to protect its students with allergies, said Dexter.

Exclusion

The next installment of the policy will appear in the December newsletter when Connolly will extend its reach to no longer allow distribution of party invitations or gifts. Built on years observing students in the school system, Connolly’s philosophy is that these activities are detrimental to student cohesion.

“It sets up one-up-manship, class distinctions, competitiveness,” when parents send in balloons, treats and gifts, said Connolly.

Though he said he realizes the intention is good, the effect and intent do not always match. “It doesn’t promote relationships, so it’s got to be doing the opposite,” he said.

At the private school attended by Dineen’s daughter there was an informal understanding amongst parents that distributing party invitations at school was inappropriate. By keeping it outside the school, “you’re not excluding kids,” said Dineen.

Disadvantaged or at-risk children are a high priority for Connolly. Though that population in Cape is admittedly small; the median household income in Cape as reported by Yahoo Real Estate is $85,977. Connolly said it is still a factor.

“We’re trying to connect them here at school because there are so many pieces that aren’t connected at home,” he said. When students receive gifts and treats from friends and parents at school, said Connolly it creates a division, isolating those children unable to afford such luxuries.

“Kids are in such a fragile stage form 10 to 14,” he said, “They’re going through the greatest social, emotional, physical and intellectual change in their life.”

Cape Elizabeth, he argues, is a small active community with plenty of opportunity for children to gather outside the classroom for birthday celebrations. Distributing invitations off school grounds and celebrating outside the classroom bypasses many opportunities for exclusion.

Dricot agrees that kids are vulnerable in that position and sympathizes with the predicament. “If they’re not inviting everyone, it hurts people’s feelings,” she said.

Academic focus

A secondary factor to implementing this policy, said Connolly, in his newsletter is prioritizing academic focus. “The birthday routines interrupt class flow,” he stated in the newsletter.

Connolly said school is not the place to celebrate birthdays. “The school day is short enough,” he said.

Though edible treats are allowed at Wentworth, they do not impede the learning process, said Dexter, because they are shared during the regular snack-time. Birthday parties are not promoted, said Dexter. The exchange of gifts and invitations is specifically prohibited in the school manual.

“To not give kids the instruction,” to create “an opportunity to provide kids with a party, it doesn’t make academic sense,” said Dexter.

Though Dexter said school is not the appropriate place to host a birthday party, she said it is important to acknowledge birthdays. Wentworth teachers have individual ways of recognizing kids on their birthdays that don’t involve presents or food, she said.

“We’re not saying, ‘no you can’t have fun, no you can’t be acknowledged,” she said, “birthdays are part of natural life…but all personal parties should be maintained through the home.”