Subway apologizes

The controversial decision by Subway sandwich shops to exclude home school students from a writing contest they were sponsoring has resulted in an apology. Today the following was issued:

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.

Home educated students just want to be offered the same opportunities as their peers. Subway, who provided sandwiches at one of the home school conventions held in Charlottesville a few years ago, probably was not even aware of how it would look to the home school community to exclude them from a creative writing contest. Subway rectified a wrong, and we thank them.