School Stops Giving Kids Mountain Dew Before Tests

No more pre-test infusion of sugar and caffeine for these kids. A grandmother complained when she learned that children at a Florida elementary school were getting a dose of Mountain Dew before taking standardized tests, Florida Today reports. They received three tablespoons of the soda, along with some trail mix, each day of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. "To me, it's a poor precedent," the grandmother tells News 13. "We're setting for young children that they should be hyped up before a test."

Turns out the school's principal had read in an education journal about the benefits of the snacks. "She felt that it was a professional practice and implemented it" some 10 years ago, a local public schools spokeswoman says. "Since then, there's been new information." Now, "we've advised Creel Elementary to only provide water as a beverage." (Interestingly, the school has an A+ rank and is among the top test scorers in the county, News 13 notes.)