Colorado mom chastised by pre-school for packing Oreos in daughter's lunch

AURORA, Colo. -- A note, sent home with a preschooler, scolded her mother for packing Oreo cookies in her daughter's lunch, according to ABC affiliate KMGH-TV.

Last Friday, a teacher at Children's Academy in Aurora didn't find 4-year-old Natalee Pearson's lunch to be entirely healthy. So they sent the cookies home with Natalee, along with a note:

Dear Parents, It is very important that all students have a nutritious lunch. This is a public school setting and all children are required to have a fruit, a vegetable, and a healthy snack from home, along with milk. If they have potatoes, the child will also need bread to go along with it. Lunchables, chips, fruit snacks, and peanut butter are not considered to be a healthy snack. This is a very important part of our program and we need everyone's participation.

"I don't agree with it at all," the mother, Leeza Pearson, told KMGH-TV.

Pearson said, along with the cookies, she packed a sandwich and cheese.

"They took it over the top, to say, 'The kid can't eat it. It was in her lunchbox, but you can't eat it today,'" she said.

A spokeswoman with Aurora Public Schools said the school gave Natalee a healthy alternative to the cookies.

"They don't provide lunch for my daughter. I provide lunch," said Pearson. "It's between me and the doctor in terms of what's healthy for her."

Pearson said she's not a problem parent, and her daughter is a good student who has attended the school since last fall. Pearson said she just doesn't agree with the school's position. She also couldn't get an explanation from the school's director.

"She would not talk to us," Pearson said.

A spokesperson for Aurora Public Schools said it's not typical for notes such as Pearson's to go home to parents. The representative also said it's not uncommon for many pre-schools to adopt policies and rules regarding packed lunches because of food allergies and overall commitments to healthy choices.