Jolly Rancher Earns Third-Grade Girl a Week of Detention

In 2008, I blogged about limey lunch ladies vetting food from home for nutritional content in the U.K., and confiscating unacceptable lunches. The trend has now reached our shores, with a Texas third-grader receiving a week of detention for possession of a Jolly Rancher candy at lunchtime:

Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice.

Jack Ellis, the superintendent for Brazos Independent School District… said the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned "minimal nutrition" foods….

Ellis said failing to adhere to the state's guidelines could put federal funding in jeopardy.

If her lunch included this kind of Jolly Rancher, there might have been grounds for detention:

And of course, lunches provided by the school can be far worse than a little piece of hard candy: