On Campus

Student punished over sandwich bag

School policy requires reusable lunch containers

A Laval kindergarten student was excluded from a class contest because his parents wrapped his lunch in a Ziploc bag, contravening the school’s environmental policy. In an interview with the National Post, Marc-André Lanciault said that when he confronted his son Félix’s teacher about the incident he was told, “You know Mr. Lanciault, it’s not very good for the environment . . . We have to take care of our planet and the bags do not decompose well.” Lanciault objects that his son was prohibited from taking part in a class draw to win a stuffed animal because of a decision he and his wife made. “[S]urely there’s a better way than to penalize kids. The goal wasn’t achieved anyway. At the end of the day my son doesn’t know why he shouldn’t use a Ziploc bag,” he said. The Laval school board did not respond to interview requests from the Post.

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