At an elementary school an election for student council president has turned parents against each other because one students parent complained that a campaign tactic wasn’t on the “approved list” – fortune cookies. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

From the Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The controversy took root in October when sixth-grader Jasmine White, 11, was chosen by her teacher to be a candidate for Student Council president at Central Park. Her competitor was William Thomas, a sixth-grader from a different class.

Her dad, Matthew Kline, tried to help with her campaign. He remembered the fortune-cookie tactic from his own school days in the Roseville district. He said it was used by a fifth-grade girl.

He got approval from his daughter’s teacher to order the cookies, which contained paper strips reading “Vote for Jasmine for president.” Both Jasmine’s and William’s campaigns also included posters, paper buttons and speeches to the student body.

When Jasmine won the election, William’s parents complained the cookies represented an unfair financial advantage. Kate Grimm, William’s mother, said cookie distribution was not on the list of allowed campaign practices that the candidates were given.

They “resolved” the issue by coming up with co-presidents. Apparently the kids are okay with it, but the parents of Jasmine aren’t, and are going to the Board meeting on Thursday to complain.