Diablo View Students Top Food Drive Goal, Get a Night Off from Homework

looked more like a supermarket than a place of learning this morning, as students unloaded last-minute donations for the school's annual food drive.

The school had a goal of 2,500 non-perishable food items, and the final count today — the last day of the 11-day food drive — topped that by more than 200 donations, a school spokesperson said this morning.

Most of the donations were canned goods, along with a smaller number of boxed items, such as pasta.

The reward: no homework tonight for the middle schoolers.

DVMS students have also brought in their leftover Halloween candy and have filled five copy-paper boxes with sweet treats that will be donated to U.S. troops overseas, according to the school. Tuesday, students wrote letters to the troops as part of the schools "Character in Action" program.

Meanwhile, a recent scare at the school over a "fainting game," where students held their breath until they passed out, appears to have died down.

"It was a very small number of incidents, two or three," said Megan Kommer, president of the DVMS Parent Faculty Club. "But I think it was a good move by Principal Patti Bannister to put it [information about the game] out there, because of the risk factor.

"I personally had a talk with my kid about it. Hopefully this is the last we will hear about it."