BOSTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Thursday he would support changing school-nutrition guidelines that critics said threatened school fundraising projects.
The state Department of Public Health said it would take emergency measures to reinstate school bake sales, which would be banned effective Aug. 1 under new rules intended to combat student obesity.
"Nobody's interested in banning bake sales," Patrick said. "We are interested in student nutrition and good choices."
The governor said he would sign an amendment passed by the House Wednesday, and which was expected to gain Senate approval Thursday, to allow local officials to accept or reject the new school-nutrition rules, the Boston Herald reported.
DPH Commissioner John Auerbach issued a statement saying the department will amend the rules in June to relax restrictions on school-sponsored events including bake sales, the newspaper said. Auerbach said school nutrition standards "have always been about reducing childhood obesity in Massachusetts and protecting our kids from the serious long-term health impacts that obesity can cause."
"We hope to return the focus to how we can work together to make our schools healthy environments in which our children can thrive," he said.
Critics said the rules would hurt fundraising for athletics, band trips and other features of school life.
Dr. Lauren Smith, the DPH medical director, told the Herald the state wasn't "trying to get into anyone's lunch box."
