I have not heard anything about a lawsuit, I was simply pointing out that HSLDA has also written a letter asking subway to reconsider their decision.
I think that a lawsuit would be silly! People use lawsuits to make an example of others and to make a point.
I read the letter from HSLDA and it does not talk about a lawsuit, just states their disappointment and how the policy discriminates against homeschoolers. I read a response this morning from Subway that someone received in response to emailing them. Here it is so you can judge: Regarding your concerns about the Subway contest that excludes home schools from contest eligibility, Scholastic and Subway apologize to all individuals who have taken offense at this. Our intention was never to make independent schooled children feel discriminated against or excluded from this specific promotion. Throughout the course of the year Scholastic runs a number of contests and sweepstakes that are open to all teachers and students. The eligibility of this contest in particular was solely put in place to award a large group of children with the grand prize of $5,000 worth of athletic equipment. 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. We appreciate your feedback and will make sure a similar situation does not happen in the future. If anyone has any additional comments to make regarding this contest, please email Scholastic directly at P&Cconnects@ scholastic. com and we will respond promptly to your concerns. Other email addresses or phone numbers shown in this blog will not reach individuals who are equipped to help you. Again, please direct all comments/inquiries to P&Cconnects@ scholastic. com and we would be more than happy to speak with you regarding this.
That is a nice reply. As I state before, I think they just didn't think it out fully with regard to leaving out a particular group of students. It would appear they are willing to be more sensitive in the future.
It comes down to it that they didn’t do their research both the scholastic program and subway company but judging from the letters they are now receiving they will rethink it next time. I bet the PR is getting their hands smacked because of it, I'am glad we heard from the scholastic people. If we didn’t make a stink about it they would have continued to leave out homeschoolers. We have to stand up and let company’s know when they leave us out otherwise it’s never going to change out there for us and future homeschoolers. They need to be educated that we do exist and that we are big contributors to our community’s too. Don't let the opportunity’s pass on by just because you think someone else will take care of it for you. If we didnt voice our concerns we would still be closet homeschooling. (I thank old time homeschoolers for taking to our capitals and letter writing to our congress to change all that) Send your concerns to these company’s not in harsh ugly tones but educated concerned parents tones. I am still going to order from the scholastic program because they took the time to write a few people and say it will change. Will I still eat at subway? Not sure, it’s hard to support a company that disregards Homeschoolers and dont even take the time to write back on it, so if anyone hears from someone else about a reply from them please let me know. Sam
I do not think that $5000.00 worth of sports equipment would overtake most yards. We have a Rainbow play system - swings, slide, climbing wall, swing rope, tire swing, disc swing, rope wall, second floor deck and so on. The "retail" price on our swingset is over $6200.00 dollars. We got it on sale and did not pay the full $. I am sure that there are many homeschool families that could benefit from that type of a play structure.
This is from the HSLDA site, posted today: Subway Apologizes HSLDA is pleased to pass along the following apology from Subway restaurants. To HSLDA: We at SUBWAY restaurants place a high value on education, regardless of the setting, and have initiated a number of programs and promotions aimed at educating our youth in the areas of health and fitness. We sincerely apologize to anyone who feels excluded by our current essay contest. Our intention was to provide an opportunity for traditional schools, many of which we know have trouble affording athletic equipment, to win equipment. Our intent was certainly not to exclude homeschooled children from the opportunity to win prizes and benefit from better access to fitness equipment. To address the inadvertent limitation of our current contest and provide an opportunity for even more kids to improve their fitness, we will soon create an additional contest in which homeschooled students will be encouraged to participate. When the kids win, everyone wins! —Subway restaurants
Horray for Subway, this is good that they are trying to make things right and I'm sure that all the children that missed out on the current contest will be happy to participate in the new contest. I'm very glad they decided to apologize to homeschoolers, and I understand that they wanted the schools to benefit and I'm sure that next time they will be sure to include everyone in some way or fashion.
Nice letter from Subway. I don't think that they realize though that those who home school their dc usually are one income families and some struggle just to buy curriculum, so equipment would also be helpful to a home school family. They don't fully understand the struggles that hs families face. But I am glad they responded positively.
Which is why I didn't sign the petition. I wanted to see how they responded. This is a good response. If they had said something like, "Phooey on you!!! Stop getting your short in a knot!!!" THEN I would have boycotted them!
I am glad to be able to read all of your different opinions. I still haven't changed my mind but I do think that it made me look at both sides of the situation. There really is no good reason that they won't let a HS compete. A simple sentence in the rules was all that was needed to insure that the equipment went to the school in which the child resides. I am not screaming discrimination over it though. Just that their reasoning is not acceptable to me. I dont' really think their reply letter was all that great. It basically says keep buying from me because at some point in the future there will be a contest that your child can participate in If they really wanted to apolgize they would have lifted the no hs and added a sentence in the rules that if a hs won that the prize would be donated to the school in which they reside. Truth is though that PS would be insulted to have a HS win over their own. I do believe that plays part in it.
Haha Katie I am glad subway wrote back now I can eat there again. Its the only thing we have around our small town to eat connected to the gas stations. To boycott them was asking a lot out of me hahaha Sam
I think this really was about public schools getting equipment they might not be able to afford. It would seem a bit disproportionate to have a single family get $5000 for sports equipment. It's a shame, though, that HSers are excluded from the smaller prizes. I think what Subway should have done was state that the grand prize must go to the child's school OR a school of the child's choice. That way, a HSer could still get the smaller perks of the contest, and help a school that they would like to help in the event that a HSer would win the grand prize.
