Subway Bans Homeschooled Kids from Essay Contest

I had not heard about the German franchisees part of this but I haven't been in a Subway since the FORBES article ran several years ago about the Company attorney, Lenny "the Ax" and how he treated the US franchisees. I just go to Quiznos. I love blunders like this because if you wanted to run a contest the worst way possible this would be a way to do it. But at least the teachers Unions are happy. They do so much for themselves....er, our children.

Well, they just lost me. I am a certified teacher who put off graduate school to home school my children for six years because our local schools failed to meet my standards.

I returned to graduate school and to meeting friends out for lunch when we ceased to home school--and subway was a popular spot for us.

I'm ticked, and I am now switching to a different restaurant and odds are my entire lunch crowd will switch with me once I tell them why. As I tend to be a creature of habit, I will probably not return to a subway again for years.

Anti-American behavior on the part of a company is a really bad move. No country or form of education is perfect, but home schooled children are generally taught to love and support this country even while getting involved politically to fix the problems with it.

Would they be afraid that the homescooled kids would do better than the kids educated in our public schools. I did not homeschool my children but I don't think our public education system is really educating our children. These days it's more like indoctrinating. Education should be opening minds not filling them with garbage.

Thanks for the update on this. I won't patronize Subway anymore.

Their healthy solution should be to eat home-cooked meals and not Subway meals.

i just wonder ( out loud to all that will listen )who the decision makers at subway are ? what is their gender majority, political contribution record and just what is the demographic of the world headquarters suits/dresses and various staff? i enjoy the products, but i will take my hard earned dollar down the fast food road in the future.

Subway opened this contest to parochial and private school students in addition to the public schools. Surely there are more than three million students in these institutions. You don't have to be a Catholic to attend Catholic school. Catholic and other schools decrease public school enrollment more than homeschoolers. And what is a home school but the most privately-run school?

Boneheads. Gives me a good reason to try out the new Firehouse Subs joint that recently opened nearby. I really do enjoy Subway sandwiches, but they've effectively "tubed" any loyalty I had for them...buried it deep "undeground".
We've been teaching our kids at home for 8 years and it's been a great experience. We started when we were in Germany at Uncle Sam's behest. How could the braintrust at Subway not realize there are about 50,000 Americans living in just in the Ramstein area, let alone the rest of Germany? That Subway is on U.S. bases run by the German franchisee(s)?

I am a home school mother and a licensed K-12 French/Spanish teacher. You will find many teachers who support the home school community. You will also find teachers leaving their profession to instruct their children at home. Teachers' home schooling their own children is a growing trend when opportunity permits. With that said, the Subway issue has offended teachers as well. Interestingly enough my mother a retired teacher just informed me that she and some of her retired buddies suggested Quiznos for their next luncheon. One lady said, " I like Quiznos better anyway. You get more food." I know we will be visiting Quinos this week when we are out of town to compare prices, nutrition and taste.

I used to enjoy Subway's tuna sub with sweet onion sauce.

They probably consulted with the NEA and decided that losing that annoying the union market was too painful. Besides those home schoolers can't organize any counter action, can they? We will see how that plays out.

I went to the Scholastic News Service website fully expecting to see a lefty indoctrination service for children. But instead I found that their headline story was about Memorial Day, and it was actually factual and respectful of our military forces and their service to the country.

Then I did a site search on "homeschool" and got 129 hits on all sorts of resources for home-schoolers!

What's going on here? It's alomost like someone at "SNubway" tacked on that last clause at the last moment. Maybe they have a closet leftist in the boardroom who was trying to help out his buddies in the indoctrination machine we call the public schools!

It certainly doesn't seem to have come from the Scholastic News Service, an organization that appears on the surface to be doing exactly what its name would lead you to expect - which is a refreshing change!

I went to the Scholastic News Service website fully expecting to see a lefty indoctrination service for children. But instead I found that their headline story was about Memorial Day, and it was actually factual and respectful of our military forces and their service to the country.

Then I did a site search on "homeschool" and got 129 hits on all sorts of resources for home-schoolers!

What's going on here? It's alomost like someone at "SNubway" tacked on that last clause at the last moment. Maybe they have a closet leftist in the boardroom who was trying to help out his buddies in the indoctrination machine we call the public schools!

It certainly doesn't seem to have come from the Scholastic News Service, an organization that appears on the surface to be doing exactly what its name would lead you to expect - which is a refreshing change!

We no longer need to debate whether to go to subway or the sandwich shop two doors down after church. Thanks, Subway! You probably saved us a good bit of time by making the decision about where to eat a no-brainer.

No more Subway for us!

Thank you for this article. I will not patronize Subways any longer. Hey, I am in New York where there are so many superior delis to the garbage they serve at Subways.

Duval County public schools offers PE for homeschoolers, they could use the money for athletic equipment. They've had to cut out several sports due to lack of proper, good working equipment. But you see most non-homeschoolers aren't aware of such programs.

This just irks me that non-homeschoolers put homeschoolers in a box thinking homeschoolers do everything at home, or even public school at home. Hello? That's why they chose to homeschool, so they wouldn't have to do it the schools way, but the way that's best for their kids. And a teachers job is more important than a child's education? Are you kidding me?

I'm was Subway eating homeschool parent. Now I am Quiznos eating homeschool parent

It's hard to get TOO excited about this. Togo's and Quiznos make better sandwiches. I don't go to Subway much anymore. Presumably Subway thought that homeschoolers would skew the results.

Just started going to Subway again and now I will have to stop /Home schooled my own child and grandchildren and they are way better for it .

As usual, a major company offends parents and children that don't do things the politically correct way. I go to Subway many times a month but will be going elsewhere now.

We will be going to Einsteins and other choices instead. And we enjoy Subway's product. An apology would help.

We will be going to Einsteins and other choices instead. And we enjoy Subway's product. An apology would help.

no matter what the reason, this was still an unjust decesion. it should be open to all children. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND should apply to all children.

No more Subway for me, either.

You might want to tell Subway what you think by using their Customer Service reply form:

http://www.subway.com/Applications/CustService/frmCustomerService.aspx

As far as I'm concerned, Subway shot itself in the foot long ago with its seriously inferior product and lack of quality control. It's been on my boycott list for quite some time. This certainly can't help its bottom line though. Who makes it marketing decisions anyway?? Time for some new blood.

I wonder if Jarrod was "home schooled"......try Jimmy Johns or Jersey Mike's for a better alternative.

I read about this when it first came out, but my sense was that homsechoolers were excluded simply because part of the prize is a large award of athletic equipment to the school and they want that used by a group and not just one family. It actually made sense to me and I really wasn't offended... I am wondering if people are getting the whole story here before getting up in arms.

I'm a homeschool graduate, so it is an understatement to say that discrimination against homeschoolers angers me. I looked at Subway's essay contest, and they advertise the chance to "win great prizes for your child's school." Looking solely at their grand prize, $5,000 for athletic equipment, I can see why they would want to limit the winner to someone who can share the prize with no less than dozens of other children. But look at the other prizes: Subway gift cards a Scholastic gift basket? That's supposed to help our children's schools how? Yes, let's divide the $100 gift card between the winner's entire grade. That will certainly be life-changing for the children in our schools. These other prizes are much more befitting to homeschool families, while the grand prize is more befitting to traditionally-schooled children. Subway needs to either choose prizes that solely benefit the entire school, or that benefits (and includes) everyone.

I have never eaten at Subway. Now I never will.

I find it truly reprehensible for Subway to exclude homeschooled children. How foolish. They have also made the choice to "go green". It figures. Maybe Fred DeLuca needs to dump the politically correct bunch he has working for him, and take back control of his company.

Interesting thought, Larry, but home schooled children still attend class once a week or so and have organized athletic teams that compete against other homeschoolers across the state. I have had several friends that played on a homeschool basketball team and had to raise money for gym time, jerseys, that sort of thing. I'm sure the $5,000 grand prize towards athletics equipment would cover those costs.

Remember before leaving Subway you should mention why to the store owner. It is the owners who can put the most pressure on Subway to change their ways.

I just emailed Subway to tell them I'd rather see kids eat a bit of fat than what most schools "serve."

I won't buy another Subway sandwich until they stop their discriminatory practices. We used to get a Subway at least three times a month; Quiznos, here we come! FYI, The NEA unions don't protect ALL teachers, either. My "professional status" daughter in Massachusetts got NOWHERE with her union when she was laid off last year; they didn't go to bat for her (told her there was nothing they could do), nor did they help her find another teaching job. . .her union only takes her union dues and uses them to support political candidates who promise to force parents to send their children to public schools.

Frankly, I never liked Subway sandwiches.

To insult me as an American fat pig was bad enough. But to exclude homeschooled students (kids who can eat the lunch of public schoolers ten times over in every contest and standardized test out there) from an essay contest... It sounds to me like the applicant for some important job who is discouraged from applying because he'd be too "overqualified."
I think this is an opening for Quiznos to establish its own essay contest... and encourage homeschoolers to participate. Now that would be a nice PR campaign!

I was actually surprised by this move and as one of the healthier places I can feed my homeschooled children we will no longer be eating there! not a good marketing plan subway.

Nancy, what should offend you is that millions of children were summarily barred from competing. There's no reason the athletic equipment, if it's meant for large groups, couldn't go to a school of the winner's choosing. I'm sure the homeschoolers wouldn't object and everyone would benefit. The contest rules could have been written accordingly. Instead, three million children, and their parents, were told to just go away.
Many other readers have the right idea. If a homeschooled child won the prize then the comparison of the winner's essay to essays from local schools might have made a lot of educators uncomfortable.

When I read this, I was really mad and ready to have the corporate management at Subway drawn and quartered. I'm SO glad I read through all of these comments, though. Now I can better understand the reason for excluding homeschoolers--not that I agree with it. As another person stated, one of the prizes was a large amount of althletic equipment which was, I assume, intended to be enjoyed by an entire school, not just by one family. If Subway had a promotional department with any sense, they could have just stated that if a homeschooler won, the equipment would be donated to the school or recreation center of their choice, thereby allowing them to possibly still have use of it (I believe homeschoolers are permitted to participate in public school extra curricular acivities if they wish; at least they are in my area). As responsible, intelligent homeschoolers, we must teach our children not to not have a knee-jerk reaction to situations like these, but to responsibly investigate the issue fully. Like the other commentor said, let's find out the entire story. Having said that, I still condemn the clueless (or leftist) folks at Subway who allowed the disclaimer to be written the way that it was. Public Relations 101, Subway! You'd better find a new P.R. director before you find yourself up to your buns (no pun intended) in mud!!!! After, or IF, they apologize and admit their stupidity, I MIGHT go back to Subway, although now I'm mad about the thing in Germany with the fat Statue of Liberty. I didn't know about that one! Was I on vacation or something??!!

According to the Home School Legal Defense Association (anyone wonder why this organization is even necessary?) in 2002-3, there were 1.7 to 2.1 million home-schooled children. That's anywhere from 2.5 to 4.5 million now. But apparently the leadership of Subway feels that these kids don't count. MY kids don't count.

So Subway is now off the menu for our family, and probably 20 other families in my immediate neighborhood.

4.5 million kids is probably at least 1 million families. If the trend in my neighborhood is any indication, Subway just lost 20 million families, upwards of 40 million people, as customers.

Great marketing plan.

What possible reason could they have for putting that exclusion in there, other than someone's bizarre personal bias? Even if they don't agree with homeschooling, it's a HORRIBLE business decision that will be more than counterproductive to the marketing they were attempting to use to increase business. And now they can't/won't even get out in front of it, apologize, revise the discriminatory rules, etc.? Not handling anything too well over there, and we (and our 5 hungry kids) are done with Subway until they change their ways.

This is not just about homeschooling, it is about personal liberty. Since the fall of the Berlin wall personal liberty has been under attack. The fall showed how powerful the idea of personal liberty is and those who benefit from limited liberty saw the threat. This is not a big collaborative attack but rather an attack by 1000 little cuts. We all need to sound the alarm as too many of these little cuts are sticking. In and of thenselves at times they seem inconsequential but over time and cumulatively they will be disastorous. I fear for the liberty of my children and grandchildren, lost under the mantra of the common good. Remember the common good has been the forecall of many dictators. Currently Chavez comes to mind, grabbing power for the common good and leading his people further down the road to serfdom. Subway is just an ignorant player in this drama but hopefully the reaction will awaken them.

Here is an online petition against Subway. You can keep your e-mail private, (it gives you options) Go Quiznos!

http://www.petition online.com/ home777/petition .html

And here is the place to e-mail the right people for complaints against Subway. Scholastic Inc. is on the internet too, don't forget to give them a piece of your mind also!

SUBWAY® Public Relations
(203) 877-4281
Kevin Kane Ext.1329
kane_k@subway.com
Les Winograd Ext. 1683
winograd_l@subway.com

I know a lot of homeschool co-ops that could use that big prize! Parents who homeschool foot the bill for all of their childrens' educational expenses where I live, and athletic equipment is expensive on top of books and other supplies.

I guess they thought it was too high of a risk that a homeschooler would actually win, so they had to exclude that group. hmmmm... discrimination happens, and my kids get to learn about it first-hand from Subway. They also get a lesson in economics... we spend $24 at the competition, and Subway doesn't get a bit of profit from it. If we do that regularly, they don't get that profit, either.

I'll not be going to SNubway again any time soon. I have other choices where my educational choices are not discriminated against.

My daughter is enrolled in a Pulic Homeschool. It's a public school like any other, but it caters to strickly homeschooling. It's an outstanding organization. We teach our children ourselves (at home, or wherever) and we have the option of signing them up for workshops at the school site. Many parents attend these workshops with their children. There's pottery, drama, spanish, painting, french, science, etc. There are so many workshops. The school organizes so many educational field trips you couldn't possibly go on them all. Each student is assigned a Certified Teacher who acts as our Mentor. He/She answers our questions, guides and directs us when necessary, and informs us of any new information/supplies, etc. We have basketball teams, and we'll soon have baseball and football teams. Someone mentioned in their comment that they understand why homeschoolers weren't accepted in the contest, because the reward was athletic equipment for the winner's school... We homeschool, and our school could have used that equipment. There are many homeschoolers across the nation that organize sport teams and games for their children, and they homeschool privetly. I can see no reason why homeschoolers ought to be excluded. I used to enjoy taking my daughter to Subway on the way home from school. We'll be going to Quiznos now.

Heh. This offends not just the home-schooling parents. I don't have any kids and this action makes me rethink my patronage of Subway. Nice job!

My homeschooled boys loved (notice past tense) the meatball sub. I quite enjoyed the tuna, also. Quiznos and Penn Station for us.

They just lost me and my three "unqualified" home schooled children. Along with my husband and mother-in-law and a vast majority of homeschoolers, I should hope. GO QUIZNO'S! (maybe a good time to buy quizno's stock!)

I am very offended by the exclusion of home educating families. I would have no problem being told that we could not win such a large grand prize but could win a lesser prize, have to donate the equipment to a local place that could use it, have to donate the equipment to the local school our children would attend if they went to public school, or even were just allowed to submit our story and win one of the books. To completely exclude home educating families like that is, in my opinion, a very bad move. I think there is a much better option than just saying that no homeschools will be allowed, and they should have thought about that before completely ostracizing the home educating community and their supporters. JMO

Hmm ... methinks I will go to Quiznos (with my previously homeschooled children) then drop our receipt off at Subway. :)

Here's the letter my hubby sent Subway & Scholastic.

It is outrageous that you have discriminated against home schoolers in the recent Subway contest, "Every Sandwich Tells a Story." It begs the question how Scholastic could be so short sighted, or was it pure ignorance of the home schooling community at large? Surely most of the nonprofit home schooling sports associations do not operate under a rock when you consider the recent March 16th article in the New York Times concerning the recent National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships.

Please review the following links to update your knowledge of nonprofit Home school Sports Associations throughout our nation which need athletic equipment.

Video
http://tinyurl.com/3th9wu

March 16 article
http://tinyurl.com/4wbxkl

Players offered scholarships by college scouts
http://www.homeschoolbasketball.com/players_in_college.htm

Are you not aware that home school sports organizations are nonprofit and must pay for the rental of gyms, purchasing equipment/uniforms, paying referees, and absorbing all travel expenses to and from games? We do not receive tax money as the public schools do in order to purchase what we need. (Yet, I still have to pay taxes to my local Title 1 failing public school while my wife does their job!)

I've read your apology below where you acknowledge, "We do however understand how home-schooled children could benefit from this type of prizing and will make sure eligibility is open to everyone in future promotions." If you understand, then why not amend your policy effective immediately rather than wait until next year? To do less smacks of insincerity, heaping insult upon injury. The contest does not end until June 30th. There is no excuse for not eliminating the discrimination immediately.

Such a discriminating policy insinuates heavily the political influence teacher unions have upon Scholastic. Have you forgotten that home schoolers are major consumers of your products, too? Why are you showing favoritism to public/private schools over home schoolers? You could simply add a stipulation that a home schooled winner would be required to donate their winnings to a nonprofit home school sports association of their choice.

Do you realize most home school families have been reduced to ONE income families in order to meet the educational needs of their children? Most cannot afford private schools and home schooling is the ONLY other option. Many home schoolers drive 10 yr. old cars, live without luxuries in a low income neighborhood, while striving to produce educated children to become competitive & productive citizens of society.

Instead of Scholastic and Subway penalizing the families who have assumed responsibility for educating their own children at tremendous expense, both companies should be doing everything in their power to include in their support, nonprofit home school organizations committed to helping parents provide various sports for their children.

This is my notification that my family (& everyone I can influence) will be boycotting Subway and Scholastic, effective immediately.

I must confess, my eating out at subway just went to nought. I am a minister with a fifteen hundred membership with home school familys.
Just one opinion, i wish you would rethink you decision about home schools students.

Subway was dumb, but the home school crowd is in danger of knee-jerking themselves into irrelevance.

substitute "homeschool" for "jew", and what do you get? Germany ca. 1938.

i can't believe this is happening here.

My homeschooled daughter just got her SAT results back. She scored a 2300 overall, with a perfect 800 on the writing portion. Now I know why Subway banned homeschoolers from the contest. They must have known that the poor public school kids wouldn't have a chance.

We'll have to get by with Quiznos or our local Sam's Deli from now on. Speaking of Quiznos, they could edge into more Subway market shares by having their own essay contest, open to ALL students. I'll bet that would make homeschoolers loyal Quiznos customers for life.

Through all this nonsense I have heard no mention of what the prize is. I f the prize is say, 20 PC's for the winner's school, then the no home schooler rule would actually make sense. If not, they are idiots. I guess I dont understand why homeschoolers even care. Arent there plenty of other contests to enter??

I can't get too upset about this. I don't go to Subway anyway. I think they probably could have added some sort of clause that, isntead of saying homeschooling specifically, could have said schools must have X number of pupils or something like that. Or opened it to groups (maybe a soccer team, or gym league?).

Anyway, this homeschooler has way more to worry about than a sub-par sandwich store not wanting to give me sports equipment. :D

This has been taken way out of proportion. How can you expect for $5000 worth of sports equipment to go to a single family as supossed to a school with 200, 500, or however many students?

The only thing I see that they could have done was maybe allow homeschoolers to participate and have the prize go to the school the child would be enrolled in if s/he were in public school (or a private school in the same district). That way, homeschoolers are still welcome and the prize is still reaching as many children as possible.

And to those people who say hs kids participate in a class once a week or something; that is not available in every state.
There are also plenty of other contests, discounts, and activities that are only available to homeschoolers.
Should public school families boycott Six Flags when they have their annual Homeschoolers' Day, or NASA's Space Center for closing their doors to the general public for two days to hold their Homeschool programs? Come on!!!

I do not have children, but do know that home schooling is a sacrifice for parents and in a lot of cases, it's the only way children have a chance to receive a quality education. I do like to go to Subway every once in a while, but am so angry that they are discriminating against these home schooled kids that I have no problem giving my business to Quizno's. As a matter of fact, a Quizno's just opened up across the street from my work location. Why can't Subway just change the requirements of this promotion and include all school age children instead of telling these home schooled kids they have to wait until a future promotion?? Talk about discrimination!!!

The grand prize is $5,000 worth of athletic equipment for the winner's elementary school.

This is sad. What do they have against homeschoolers anyway? Is it because they are generally more educated than public school students?

i go to subway about 2x a week for lunch. I also have no kids nor do i plan to ever have any. However this is a blatant and disgusting supplication to the parasitic job creation venture that are public schools. They have lost my business forever.

On the surface, this seems like a cut and dry insult to home schoolers, but considering Scholastic News Service's history supporting home schools, I wonder if this is just a case of lawyers being too picky. I sure would like to see the rest of the story before judging. There have been far, far too many boycotts prompted by false or misunderstood events.

As a homeschool principal, dad, coach and business owner, I am surprised by the marketing department at Subway. Take homeschoolers out of the equation and you get what the government schools have been advancing for years - setting the bar just a little lower...

I am homeschooled, and I am going to tell ALL my homeschooled friends about this, and they won't go to Subway either.

In addition to the spelling errors noted previously, the rules permit entries from "legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6." There are several loopholes here: (a) there is no restriction on who writes the essay, as long as the person who submits it is an adult with a child who (b) attends a school serving grades PreK-6 [N.B. the child does not have to be in one of these grades as long as their school offers them.]

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As a Homeschooling family who goes to Subway, we find this discriminatory. Granted the first prize is for athletic equipment, there is no reason a homeschool family cannot win the prize and give it to their local homeschool group. We belong to two groups of homeschool families one that has a co-op physical education program and the other that has begun offering several athletic programs (soccer, volleyball, and looking to add basketball). There is also a group here in Wisconsin trying to build and supply a shared facility for homeschoolers with a gym and athletic field. I do know of other areas of the country that have similar options for homeschooled families. This equipment would find a home in the homeschool groups.

As a homeschooling parent, I am more embarrassed by the whining of the many freedom-loving parents who homeschool than the decision of this company to exercise their freedom to hold a contest for whomever they choose.

Homeschool Legal Defense holds a poetry contest every year for ONLY homeschoolers. Does the public school student protest? No. The intent of the HSLDA contest is to highlight the work of homeschoolers and their organization. Similarly, the intent of the Subway contest was to promote the work of public school students and support the winners local community by giving them playground equipment. Homeschoolers don't fit their intention and so they excluded them. This should have been a win-win for Subway, the student, and the school. But Subway didn't count on the whiney homeschool crowd getting all uppity about the supposed discrimination against them. Quickly homeschoolers demanded their right to enter and began a boycott of Subway. What a shame for Subway and an embarrasment for all who homeschool. Bullies are never popular even if they manage to win the immediate fight.

Some have suggested that they could have let homeschoolers enter the contest and then let them choose where the park equipment should go. But wouldn't that have then discriminated against the public school students who would not be given that same choice? Why should the homeschooler get to choose but not the public school student? Subway wanted to extend a helping hand to a public school not any community organization and that's their perogative? After all, it's their profits. We have no claim to their profits or their benevolence however allocated.

If it's true fairness you ask for, perhaps Subway could have allowed the homeschoolers to enter the contest and if by chance a homeschooler did win first prize the equipment could have gone to the school the child WOULD have attended had they gone to the local public school. I'm sure that would have softened the ire of homeschoolers! Yeah, right.

Please, let's be a bit more adult about this, accept their decision, and if you must quietly remind them that you exist too, but then it's time to move on. Let's not shoot ourselves in the foot clamoring for a boycott. Subway may have made a marketing blunder with this contest, but this outcry makes us appear arrogant and immature. Do we really want to cultivate that image?

I'm actually surprised that Tennesse state officials can tell homeschoolers in that state that they need not apply to any government job and there is nary a peep from the homeschool community, but let a company exclude homeschoolers from an essay contest and the homeschool community cries foul and demands their right to enter!

I say, let Subway exercise their right to hold a contest and allow the entrants and winners to be of their choosing not ours. It's not fun to be excluded from a contest, but the alternative is to limit their freedom based on our choices. As homeschoolers, is that the message you want to send out to the watching world?

Me thinks we doth protest too much!

I think the answer would be for homeschoolers to write the essay and see if they win. You might just make up a name like "Abeka elementary school" or something similar. If you don't win, no harm no foul, but if you did, then the fireworks start. How did a homeschooler win in the first place? As far as the prize, just take it and sell it and put it into the college fund. Either way you have to win to have a beef if they deny the prize. Legally speaking, if you use the Abeka resources, you are in a private school( under an umbrella school). I always considered my home as a private school over the years because we had more than one child from various families over the years along with my daughter.

I could name a Home School Co-Op that would benifit greatly from the prize. It doesn't have to go to a public indoctrination camp!

I could name a Home School Co-Op that would benifit greatly from the prize. It doesn't have to go to a public indoctrination camp!

This story made http://detentionslip.org! It's a leader for crazy headlines like this in education.

Well, I won't be eating at Subway anymore!

Well being a homeschool mother of 1 child, living on one income in a household of 3. My daughter and I occasionally eat at Subway, or should I say "Snubway". That practice discontinued when I received news of this decision that we should not be allowed to enter an essay contest simply because my family made the choice to take control of my child's education.

We started homeschooling after moving to a new city and the school, though it looked good on paper and with the state office regulates public schools website when my sister-in-law (a teacher, and largest supporter for us homeschooling) checked it out looked like a good school. Well it was not, to say the least, we decided that it was time for a change. When we lived in our hometown (large metropolitan area by the way) she was in a wonderful school, I was on the PTO board and volunteered quite a bit when I could, here I did pretty much the same until we decided to make this change. If I had to donate it to a school I would not want it to go to the school in my area, I would prefer it go to her old school.

That being said where we live we have a HUGE homeschooling community with several park days, support groups, co-ops, and other groups. We even have a 501c3 non-profit organization that has a conference every year (with all kinds of workshops), sponsor kids to go to competitions like Odyssey of the Mind (they won the world competition last year), robotics competitions (one of these being put on by Lego, and some competing against college students), as well as others, and allows us to organize field trips and offers classes that would be difficult or cost prohibitive to do on our own. They also have a lending library for us to barrow materials, text books, and curriculum. Do you know where all of these resources come from? Our pockets, occasional donations from school districts (mostly when they are getting rid of old, outdated books), but mostly from ourselves. We donate curriculum we no longer use, didn't work out for us, or something that we bought as a cumulative effort for many families to use. So to say we have no where for this equipment to go to serve the common good sounds about as good as the argument that we don't socialize our kids enough.

This is just a new excuse with the same old answer "Opps! Sorry we offended you, but please keep buying our product anyway". This is unacceptable behavior as I would tell my daughter, so for their punishment they can just go to a corner and wonder where my money went. I will give them a clue, it either went to another establishment, or to the grocery store. I can make a sub better than they can for my entire family for less money anyways!

Oh! As far as for the knee jerk reaction comment. Maybe you should consider we have been discussing this for a day or 2 on our large, busy email lists, and looking at the original site to check out the story. I can not think of I homeschooler I know that does not read the fine print or would want to see what all the prizes were first, not to mention that we would be more than happy to share with others, we would want to set that example for our children, I have had several friends go to the public schools in our area to get learning disabilities for their children, legally in our state they have to provide services to all children in their areas enrolled or not, to be turned down. They are by law supposed to allow children in that area to take part in extra curricular activities if they were as capable as other enrolled children and again they will turn them down, saying because of no pass not play. Almost every homeschooler I know would most likely not allow a child to participate in one if their schoolwork suffered. So the knee jerk reaction is a cop out, see we raise our children to be civic minded people, to consider other's feelings, and to stand up for injustice. So there for we tend to stand up for not only our rights buts those of others as well.

Silvermine: 2 comments to your post

1) Most areas in the country have a place where homeschoolers can get together and participate in some sort of a structured program. If there is not a program like that in a particular area, then a simple "you can donate the equipment to a charity/school of your choice" would have sufficed.

2) Amusement parks all over the country have special "school days" for certain schools to go to the amusement park on "their school" day. That is no different than having a "homeschool" day. The important thing to remember is that in this case a certain group is being excluded in a national public contest being sponsored by two national organizations. That is discriminaton and is why we will be eating other "subs" in the future.

I am also upset that homeschoolers are excluded from this contest. But I noticed that no one commented on the rule ..... "a school serving grades PreK-6." Our public school district does not have a PreK program. So I guess, our community of over 10,000 families are not eligible either?

If you forget about the homeschool issue and the anti American propaganda, where do they get off promoting a contest that THEY cannot even spell... maybe Subway execs need to return to school especially in light of the fact that it is a writing/essay contest! As a college educator, these are the types of errors that I deal with on a daily basis that irk me to no end. Maybe the winner should donate the money back to Subway to teach their PR department to PROOFREAD! Sounds like a good idea to me or better yet lobby to have the nation's name changed to the UNTIED STATES to prove your point (seriously that was tongue in cheek, but I hope that you get my point!).

Here is the URL for Quiznos store locator - Makes it easy to boycott Subway!
http://www.quiznos.com/storefinder/index.aspx

I just entered their story contest, This is what I wrote:

There was a loud knock at the door, but when Salami Sam opened it, the only one there was a member of the NEA. "I hear there is some homeschooling going on in this house. Is that right?"
"Nnnnnooo," stuttered Sam, "the only homeschooler we had in this neighborhood was Turkey, and he doesn't live here anymore. He got tired of being put down and made fun of and left out of things, so he has moved on to a place with more freedom and openness of mind. I think it was Quizno-land or someplace like that. The only ones left here are we good old residents of the Untied States. Here, have a gift bastket."

The End....of going to Subway

In all the responses, I failed to see the reason I suspect homeschoolers were excluded: TAX DEDUCTION! Sports equipment will be "donated", which means Subway, most likely, will take a tax deduction. As someone suggested in an earlier response, Subway could have easily required that all prizes be awarded to non-profits without raising the ire of homeschoolers and their friends. Letting the winner decide which non-profit receives the equipment could have sent the prize to an inner-city, after-school- program working to keep kids out of trouble or a school devastated by tornadoes, even if they weren't winners. Just think of the great PR that would create. Speaking of PR- if this is the same person who promoted the Germany blunder, I'd give him/her the Donald Trump "boot".

We are all pretty clear that this was a gigantic foolish blunder on the part of Subway. But I think it's even bigger than what we see at face value. Because my children are home with me, (and most of us know that home schooling can be a bit of a misnomer because we are out so often doing LIFE, i.e. field trips and such,) and I buy my kids lunch there a lot, my money is spent there MUCH more often than if my children were enrolled in a full time school. I honestly can hardly begin to count the dollars that I have given to Subway over the years. It looks like Quiznos will be getting our business - UNLESS Subway makes a fast turn around. I also intend to call the owner of several of our local Subways.

Hmmm...maybe it is the parent who should write the essay any way. They definitely need a spell checker.
We had to build up our own sports teams at our own expense and volunteer time in our state as we are only allowed on public school teams if the child takes 51% of their classes there AND these classes must be core classes...just the ones we prefer to teach at homes due to the skewed content in them. And our non-profit homeschool sports program could certainly use the money for equipment, gym rentals, and to pay for trips to Nationals that our kids qualify for (and sometimes cannot go to due to the high cost and distance). So, it is a big deal and even though my children are too old for this contest, we will also boycott Subway. I have spent too much volunteer time and money scheduling games, referees, gyms and/or fields for homeschool teams to let this one go by. No more Subway until they rectify this situation. If they choose to wait until next contest...so be it. I can wait to ge back to their restaurant.
Remember that the majority of homeschoolers are Christians and will forgive if a legitimate apology is offered (such as the rules corrected immediately). God bless

Hey homeschoolers! You know what makes me even more upset that a sandwich company discriminating against homeschoolers, how about the IRS. Did you know that homeschoolers can't deduct $250 worth of educational expenses off their income tax returns like other K-12 teachers from traditional schools?
(See Line 16 - Adjusted Gross Income - Educator Expenses - on IRS 2007 1040A Instruction Booklet. Maybe we can get organized and boycott the IRS too!

Adjusted Gross Income
Line 16
If you were an eligible educator in 2007, you can deduct on line 16 up to $250 of qualified expenses you paid in 2007. If you and your
spouse are filing jointly and both of you were eligible educators, the
maximum deduction is $500. However, neither spouse can deduct more than $250 of his or her qualified expenses on line 16. You may be able to deduct expenses that are more than the $250 (or
$500) limit on Schedule A, line 21, but you must use Form 1040. An eligible educator is a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide who worked in a school for at least 900 hours during a school year.

Qualified expenses include ordinary and necessary expenses paid in connection with books, supplies, equipment (including computer
equipment, software, and services), and other materials used in the
classroom. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your educational field. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your profession as an educator. An expense does not have to be required to be considered necessary.

Qualified expenses do not include expenses for home schooling or for nonathletic supplies for courses in health or physical education.

The prize of athletic equipment is dumb, anyway. Rewarding the jocks for the achievements of the other students? Stupid and grossly unfair. A better prize would have been reading, writing, or science-related.

Maybe if schools were teaching kids to read and write rather than glamorizing athletic competition, their students could compete with the homeschoolers...

(I don't have kids, either, but my own hellish public education, alternately bullied by slackers and bored to tears by the lack of intellectual challenge, predisposes me to support anyone who actually takes an active interest in their children's education.)

Too bad the individual franchise owners of Subway stores are the ultimate losers. Often they are hard working families who invested all they had in the Subway...but we prefer TOGO's sandwiches over both Subway and Quizno's. Apparently they're not nationwide. The fault lies in the corporate marketing dept at Subway. Bravo to the homeschoolers who jumped on this and wouldn't let it pass. Also, to the article that pointed out the reason why homeschoolers are targeted - money - we cost the public school money. Its never about our children or the quality of their education - its always about money. A lesson in reality. Thanks

I think the position of Subway is outrageous! If they were concerned about a homeschool family winning the grande prize, they could have added several options for our homeschool kids. For example:In the event of a homeschool child winning the prize, the winner will able to choose one of the following options: 1. Donate the equipment to a local school OR CHARITY (We have a Children's Home nearby and I am sure they would love the help) OR 2. Get a $5000 U.S. Bond- or $5000 scholarship for college. I could go on with options but I'm sure you get the drift. If Subway had taken time they could have come up with an option to satisfy everyone. It is never a good idea to exclude a group outright from participating in something-- especially a group that often looks for contests in the marketplace to supplement our HOMESCHOOL CURRICULIUM. In our home, we use anything that spurs our kids creativity and willingness to complete assignments. LOL Subway just lost us as customers (unless they come out with an apology and make it right...NOW!). Also, we do have a large extended family and large church support network that will be hearing of this.

I am of the opinion that SNubway could still amend the contest rules if their apology is really sincere -- they still have a bit over a month till the contest ends. The open letter from HSLDA (a legal group defending homeschoolers) seems to think so too, as they mentioned changing the rules now. The weasel-words in the SNubway form letter remind me of a child who tries to get out of trouble by saying, "I'm sorry if Johnny was hurt when he 'got punched' [by me]."
We don't eat out much (less now with gas prices what they are), but on road trips to see family or extended field trips, Subway HAD been one of our favorites.
By the way, SNubway's form letter refers folks to PandCConnects@scholastic.com . Another complaint letter to them yields an apology almost identical to the 1st AND an offer of a free book for each of your children. Now there are relatively few Scholastic books in which I am truly interested, and we have NO choice, although I did politely request non-fiction hoping to limit the chance of getting sci-fi, objectionable fantasy, or witches, etc. It would be interesting to see how much 1-2 million homeschooled kids' books, plus shipping, and employee time will cost them. PS: the second address reminds me of a PR firm which is hired for "crisis management."

I hope Jarod is hungry. Looks like he will be eating some extra subs as a result of this stupidity....

Spunky,
Home schools are legally PRIVATE schools in Texas. Subway's contest was offered to private schools, therefore, discriminatory against Texas home schoolers. It is through this "home school voice" that colleges/universities have stopped, for the most part, "setting home schoolers apart" by having
different standards for us. It's through this "voice" that venues, again for the most part, are allowing home schoolers to have group rates. It is through this "voice" that we are even able to home school in Texas.

We doth NOT protest to much!

Wouldn't it be SO FUN for all of the homeschooling parents to have their kiddos write essays about economics and free-markets... and SEND THEM TO SUBWAY! Woot! Whether you agree with Subway or not... For all of her problems, you've GOT to LOVE AMERICA!

We homeschool our four boys and go to Subway occasionally. Not anymore though. I wish there was a email address we could write to just to let them know they lost another customer!

I think we should show the other cheek. Instead of boycott, lets all pick a day and eat at our local subway and let the individual owners know that we don't hold them responsible. I think there is a more effective way to communicate the fact that there are many of us and we should be included. Jesus said if someone forces you to go a mile, go two (Matt 5:41). Anyone can boycott. Even so, anyone can love a friend. But to love those that persecute you shows the true nature and power of God. Grace? Forgiveness? Anybody? What light do you carry in this world?

What I want to know is what kind of education do the folks running the marketing for Subway have??? That is just pathetic - I'm not a big fan of Subway anyway but this really is an ridiculous thing for them to have done.

Subway won't be getting any more of our money. We didn't go often, but occasionally did out of necessity. We belong to a homeschool group that could have used the equipment that was being offered as a prize.

The comparison between HSLDA and Subway does not hold water. HSLDA is a nonprofit organization that specifically serves the needs of homeschoolers. Subway is a public, for-profit company that serves food to the general public. The HSLDA does not "snub" public schools; those schools have no need of the services provided by HSLDA.

Subway used to get business from numerous homeschoolers out on field trips and such. It looks like now, hopefully, they will see that if they deliberately snub their homeschooling customers, they will see a corresponding drop in their bottom line.

My children are grown. I did not homeschool them but wish I had. We will Not patronize Subway again.

For all of the parents who are "Offended" or "Hurt" or "Feel slighted" by not being included in the Subway contest...too bad. I wish that could have been the response from Subway, but it wasn't. No, they wouldn't say that because it wouldn't be nice or it may hurt someone's feelings or maybe someone would cry. We live in a whiny, touchy feely "I need to tell you how I feel society. We are not allowed to do good things because it may "Offend" someone. We have to lawyer up just to talk to the neighbors for crying out loud. I have known a few friends who Homeschool their children who admit that it was a conscious choice they made. They chose to take their child out of public, private and parochial schools because they felt those schools failed to meet their standards. They admitted by doing so they sacrificed the rewards of those particular school systems who are already budgeted to death. In my town they cut the school budget and our children will suffer for it and to be honest with you it would be nice to get a $5000.00 boost to the sports program. In any city across the country any little bit helps especially when a fortune 500 company steps up to the plate and offers something to our children. It was a harmless contest where "Children" reap the benefits. Let it go and move on.

We unwittingly started this "boycott" when our BLOG entry was spread around the net.

Obviously the contest itself is not very important. What is important is that, wittingly or not, Subway marginalized homeschoolers.

If you believe (as we do) that this exclusion arose from concerns about the grand prize, it is based on a fundamentally flawed stereotype of homeschoolers.

As American Thinker pointed out homeschoolers are under frequent attack and don't need anything to further reduce our status in society, even from a fast food chain. Neither of us believe this was a malevolent act, but it has the same effect nonetheless.

What too many fail to realize is that the boycott has accomplished three major goals: 1) Change Scholastic's policy for "next time". 2) Made blue suits all over corporate America think twice about failing to give homeschoolers their due. 3) Brought the issue of homeschooling into the national spotlight.

When one thinks of these effects, its pretty tough to conclude that the controversy wasn't a worthy act.

I believe we just found where monster.com did the camera work for their "I Work With Monkeys" ad campaign -- the marketing firm that came up with this no homeschools crap.

Here is my recent email to Subway:
Since I have learned you have decided to exclude home school students from your "Every Sandwich Tells A Story" essay contest in the Untied (sic) States, I will have to move my frequent visits to this and other Subway stores to Quizno's and other sub shops. Too bad you have a good product, but such poor marketing judgment. And no I am not interested in any free book for my children. What I am interested in is a "very" public and well publicized apology and change in policy.

If you want my business back that is the way to get it and be sure I am spreading this news to all my friends. I think it will only be a few days to see if your franchise owners notice any difference.

Isn't the free market and the internet amazing!