Last week, both the Postand NY1 highlighted schools' lack of compliance with regulations that limit the amount of junk foodavailable in public schools: Two-thirds of the schools audited by State Comptroller Thomas diNapoli's office sold sugary and salty, nutritionally vapid snacks, most often in high-school vending machines. While the ideal of the homemade lunch may seem the best solution, anyone who's spent time watching a table full of 10-year-olds wheel and deal for extra bags of chips, candy, and cookies knows that what's sent from home doesn't always get consumed -- at least, not by the intended diner.

But in a case that seems to personify a certain subtype of New York parent, one mother has launched a campaign against nutritionally poor foods wherever they surface in school, including class birthday parties, celebrations, and school stores. While it's easy to poke fun of a parent that send kids to school with Tupperware containers to collect and bring home the offending foodstuffs, it's also simple to feel compassion for the kids who have to tote the uneaten sweets home everyday as evidence.

Should one parent, or one family, shape a school's food policy? The question gets complicated when you think about life-threatening food allergies, yet children who are allergic, vegetarian, or observe kosher or halal rules go to school with kids who eat school lunch and bring sugary cupcakes to bake sales and class parties. How much is the responsibility of the parent to educate their child about what their family sees as right and wrong foods to consume? And how vigilent should schools be in protecting all children from everything unhealthy?

Does your child's school manage to funnel in plenty of junk food? Do you think it's a problem? In a city that celebrates diversity and (theoretically, at least) idealizes tolerance, should we be focused on increasing differences around the lunch table? Our nation and our children are experiencing rising levels of diabetes, obesity and other health-care issues related to nutrition. What's the balance between personal freedom -- to eat, and even to overeat -- and the greater good?