peanut allergies in schools

[redhen]

Heckel's Hens :

We have friends whose daughter is so severly allergic to eggs that we can't visit their house unless we bath our kids right beforehand and make sure they don't have eggs that morning for breakfast, and brush their teeth right before we go.

The mom does an excellent job of regulating the daughter's environment and making life as normal as possible, especially with 2 other children at home.

FOR THIS REASON...she homeschools and sacrifices a great bit of her time and energy to address her child's special need. IMO, that is what should be done for severe, severe peanut allergies.


All this reminds me of how *many* parents do not want to get off their butt and go the extra mile for their own kids, basically b/c they are either lazy, uniformed, etc. Schools are not here to raise our kids, protect them from everything under the sun and manage their lives. That is what PARENTS are for. But alas...that would require self-sufficiency, a trait often going overlooked these days....

(said from a 29 year old mom of 2!)

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

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If you had read several of my earlier posts and had not chosen to edit out the parts where I had written that compromise is essential, repeatedly, and that IF (IF being the key word) the scent caused the deadly reaction was such an issue that banning would be necessary, if not, then a compromise would be necessary, but you kept going on about other things and picking and choosing through my statements. Thus my repeated statements and assertions in bolds and repeated usage of ifs and repeated usage of "everything in moderation"

Please go back and re-read my posts.

I do not think I can clarify any more than I already have.

I read all your posts an have not edited anything out. You are arguing a double standard. A double standard that nether the parents or the law will allow. Also a double standard that the line between the two cant be drawn. Just because an allergy was bad last time you had contact does not mean it will be the next. Also if it was a harmless reaction last time, that does not mean it wont kill you the next time. Allergic reactions or unpredictable. Sure you can try to implement this double standard but someone will always cry foul, Which is where this school is now.


Also if you do ban peanuts its not as simple as that. To make sure there is no peanuts you also have to ban all food that does not say on the package "no nuts". That means all home cooking an non commercial packaged food or also banned. Then theres the 90% of products that don't have this marked on them. Even after all that Its still not enough cause little Jonnys mom may be using a peanut oil based detergent on his clothing or a peanut oil based lotion or a hundred other products that might leave peanut on them.

 

[FireTigeris]

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Well if you had raised a horrible stink about it possibly killing her they would have...

and 'a' reaction (Ex-hives on the skin) is not going to bother them (school board/district) as much as the throat closing or the tongue and face swelling.

Squeaky wheels and all-

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But processing for non foods (peanut soap) renders the protein denatured- ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denaturation_(biochemistry) ) or not used http://www.soap-making-resource.com/peanut-oil-for-soap-making.html

Besides MOST school districts here (Duval) disallow home made anything already and only get 'approved' (nut/shellfish/strawberry etc free) things. That's really not a big deal.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

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Yep, no protein = no reaction. But there is no protein in the off gassing that peanuts do that make the odor so the "no protein" fact went out the window as soon as they said they cant even smell it without a reaction.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

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If you had read several of my earlier posts and had not chosen to edit out the parts where I had written that compromise is essential, repeatedly, and that IF (IF being the key word) the scent caused the deadly reaction was such an issue that banning would be necessary, if not, then a compromise would be necessary, but you kept going on about other things and picking and choosing through my statements. Thus my repeated statements and assertions in bolds and repeated usage of ifs and repeated usage of "everything in moderation"

Please go back and re-read my posts.

I do not think I can clarify any more than I already have.

I read all your posts an have not edited anything out. You are arguing a double standard. A double standard that nether the parents or the law will allow. Also a double standard that the line between the two cant be drawn. Just because an allergy was bad last time you had contact does not mean it will be the next. Also if it was a harmless reaction last time, that does not mean it wont kill you the next time. Allergic reactions or unpredictable. Sure you can try to implement this double standard but someone will always cry foul, Which is where this school is now.


Also if you do ban peanuts its not as simple as that. To make sure there is no peanuts you also have to ban all food that does not say on the package "no nuts". That means all home cooking an non commercial packaged food or also banned. Then theres the 90% of products that don't have this marked on them. Even after all that Its still not enough cause little Jonnys mom may be using a peanut oil based detergent on his clothing or a peanut oil based lotion or a hundred other products that might leave peanut on them.

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
Yep, no protein = no reaction. But there is no protein in the off gassing that peanuts do that make the odor so the "no protein" fact went out the window as soon as they said they cant even smell it without a reaction.

But I was told food/scent XXXX could kill me, and they were lucky last time they brought me back from the dead, I'm never to go around food/scent XXXX - you better believe if I THOUGHT I was exposed to XXXX I'd have a panic attack, and if you look up and comparable panic attacks to ananphalaxis they would seem the same to someone who is not medically trained.

In fact I've been administered an epi-pen for a panic attack (I was non-verbal at that moment) - but it worked because I now believed my life was going to be saved... (so I calmed down and my brain turned off the YOU ARE GOING TO DIE message)

So lay people believe reactions can occur, and they kinda can, however if I had passed out- my breathing would have returned to normal with a panic attack, not so much with the allergic reaction.

 

[KristyHall]

here is an article on the situation there is even a video attached

http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/2...?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl9|sec1_lnk3|207126

beginning of article

Peanut Allergy Protest a 'Misunderstanding,' Florida School District Says
by Amy Hatch (Subscribe to Amy Hatch's posts)
Mar 23rd 2011 10:30AM
137Comments

Filed under: Medical Conditions, In The News, Health

Peanut Allergy Case Hits Raw Nerve: MyFoxPHILLY.com
Officials for a Florida school district are saying that parents protesting efforts to protect one student from a peanut allergy is -- in a nutshell -- all a big misunderstanding.

A student at Edgewater Elementary School, part of the Volusia County School District in DeLand, Fla., has such a severe food allergy that her first-grade classmates are asked to wash their hands before entering their classrooms in the morning and again at lunch.

They also were required to rinse their mouths after lunch, but district spokeswoman Nancy Wait tells ParentDish that requirement was recently changed to simply wiping their faces with a wet cloth -- a change made even before parents decided to protest the district's efforts to keep the unnamed female student safe.

"The same procedures were in place last year, and they have been in place all of this year," Wait says. "This is really a misunderstanding by some parents."

Some parents are saying the hand-washing is taking away from the children's instructional time, FoxNews.com reports, and some picketed the school last week, carrying signs that read, "Our Kids Have Rights Too."

"On average, it's probably taking a good 30 minutes out of the day. That's my child's education. Thirty minutes could be a whole subject," Carrie Starkey tells FoxNews.com. "We understand that they need to protect this girl, but these measures are just extreme. Procedures need to be set in place, but not procedures that will take away from our children's education."

But Wait says that simply isn't the case, adding that while she understands parents' concerns over the loss of instructional time, in general "washing hands is a good thing."

"It does take a little bit of time and there is a legitimate concern about cutting down instructional time," she tells ParentDish.

The teachers in the two classrooms affected have the process down to a science, Wait adds. Girls and boys line up at separate sinks and wash their hands and faces as efficiently as possible.

Parents also believed that peanut butter was banned from the school and that outside food was no longer welcome at holiday parties, all in service of one child's needs.

"Some people seem to believe that there aren't any peanut butter and jelly sandwiches being served in the cafeteria, but that isn't true," Wait says.

As for the parties, Wait tells ParentDish that it was a decision made by the teachers to focus the holiday celebrations around crafts instead of food, for general health and wellness reasons.

She adds that there was additional confusion over the fact that the first-graders are no longer being served a morning snack -- and that some parents even believed that teachers were washing their children's hands and faces with Clorox wipes.

Instead, Wait says, desks are wiped down with the cleaning cloths and snack time was nixed for scheduling reasons.

"There is no snack this year at the first-grade level, and some parents thought that was because of the peanut allergy," she tells ParentDish. "But it's because of where their lunch time falls. There's just no time to eat a snack beforehand."

Wait says district officials are taking one-on-one meetings with the upset parents to explain the rationale behind the preventative measures, and that there are four children at Edgewater Elementary who are sensitive to peanuts.

The little girl who sparked the controversy is the only student whose allergy is life-threatening -- and, under the Americans With Disabilities Act, the district is legally obliged to accommodate her medical needs.

Each student who falls under the purview of the ADA has a medical plan, developed in conjunction with his or her physicians, on file with the school. Wait says the school is required to comply with that plan.

This particular pupil's medical plan also called for a peanut-sniffing dog to search the school, looking for traces of the nut. Wait says that did, indeed, take place last week, while the students were on spring break.

The bottom line, Wait tells ParentDish, is that the district does whatever it can to balance the needs of one against the needs of many.

"We have moved so far beyond isolating children with disabilities," she says. "We are required to provide her with an education and to make accommodations for her disability."

David Bailey, the father of the unnamed student, could not be reached for comment. He did, however, tell FoxNews.com that he kept his daughter home on the day of the protests.

"They are against her," Bailey tells FoxNews.com. "This is all against her."



End of article

 

[WriterofWords]

It's not against her, it's against the violation of the rights of the other students. As for the picketing? How much you wanna bet none of those parents went into the school and talked to the administration first?

 

[SandraMort]

BWAHAHAH! I have deleted offensive replies half a dozen times, but I'm trying really hard to make the point without pissing off anybody... sorry if I fail

Do you really believe that the majority of a group believing something makes it right? Whether it's Christianity being Correct and Factual, Black people being inferior, homosexuals being perverts and deviants or <pick your favorite political group> being bass ackward idiots, how does this make any sense?

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[SandraMort]

That's nonsense. Nobody is forbidden from praying if it is their own decision. It just can't come FROM the school.
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