So many of you commented on my original post with your own stories of frustration and voices of support. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated it, and it strengthens my belief that we need to raise our voices louder when it comes to eliminating food from our classroom celebrations. There is such a complacency when it comes to stepping out and making a decision about food in school (that isn’t in the lunchroom, of course). The risk of an accidental ingestion is not worth it, ever.
You asked for a follow up. I am reprinting below the letter I wrote to the nurse, the principal and the superintendent. I asked the superintendent just last fall for the elimination of food during class celebrations, to which his response was they felt it was best to keep the policy as is; leaving the decision up to the individual teacher. This simply is not good enough and leaves lots of room for error, as evidenced by my situation (and many of yours too).
The only response I received was from the school nurse, which was heartfelt and very apologetic. I truly appreciated her concern. In contrast, the principal and superintendent did not respond which speaks volumes to me. They are hoping an apology from the nurse will be good enough, and they probably (though I am assuming and can’t speak for certain) don’t want to muddy the waters. I sent a follow up to them asking them to respond, once and for all. I will show up at the next school board meeting, and every one thereafter if I have too. The time for change is now. I am not waiting until something catastrophic happens.
Letter to the School:
A serious incident regarding my son John Rudnicki and food at the First Grade Spanish Mercado and needs to be addressed. My son has severe dairy and nut allergies, as well as asthma increasing the likelihood of a life threatening reaction if he were to come in contact with the allergen foods. We have a 504 Plan on file at the school as well as a Food Allergy Action Plan so we are deeply concerned about what transpired just prior to the market day.
A few days before the Spanish Market I happened to run into (Spanish Teacher) and asked her if she was serving popcorn at the Mercado as she has done in years past. I was only aware of the possible popcorn due to volunteering two years ago. (Spanish Teacher) said she had checked with (School Nurse) about first graders with food allergies and John wasn’t on that list. Most packaged popcorn have dairy products. Had I not asked, the scenario could have gone like this: John would have asked his teacher if he could have the popcorn, and she would have said yes because he was not on the food allergy list with (School Nurse). This oversight could have had a life threatening impact.
Even though we had all the safeguards in place (procedures and allergen information on file in the nurse’s office) this mistake would have put John’s life in danger. Contrary to what many people believe, children have had anaphylactic reactions to dairy, or any of the other eight common allergens. Life threatening reactions can happen anytime a food allergen is ingested.
This is yet another example as to why I have always advocated District 39, and at the very least McKenzie Elementary, remove food from school celebrations, including birthday celebrations. Right now the policy is up to the individual teacher’s discretion as to whether or not food is allowed. The classroom is meant to be a safe haven, not a place where a child may feel excluded due to his or her allergy (disability), or more importantly put his life in danger. Food does not have to be a part of a celebration. Given the alarming increase in food allergies among our children I urge you to change your policy on this effective immediately.
###
People can and do have anaphylactic reactions other than just the eight common allergens. I am with you when it comes to people with ANY life threatenning allergy, food free events are much safer.
Kelly, I did not read the first post about this incident until this morning. I am a little behind on some reading, I think! I am so sorry to hear about this. I fully agree with you, it would eliminate many problems if food were eliminated from celebrations. While food celebrations are discouraged in our elementary school, some teachers still regularly use it as part of their curriculum and celebrations. Very scary.
Good for you, Kelly!
You go , Girl! I volunteer in the school- A LOT. I usually “catch” these things, just like you did, because I happened to be there or knew because of past experience. My deal with my son is that he doesn’t eat anything offered at school unless we’ve talked about it. His teacher knows I can be reached on my cell phone at any time to talk about a treat being offered.
Our school district is getting better. Many of us parents keep stressing that with the number of children with food allergies, diabetes, food sensitivities, and obesity, extra food outside of meals and snacks is unnecessary. Let’s keep at it.
I love the letter – good for you. It would certainly give me (and many others I assume) one less thing to worry about regarding our food allergic children. While teachers, nurses, parents and even friends have been very supportive, understanding and careful it’s not enough – accidents/accidental exposure can happen – in some cases it could be a small benadryl requiring reaction and in others it could require a 911 call – why risk it? I would breathe a huge sigh of relief if I knew that the only food my child would ever eat in school was food that was packed for him from our kitchen!
I’m glad to see a follow up post on this situation, but so sad to see that you didn’t get a response from the Superintendant or Principal. What a glowing sign of disregard for the health and welfare of students that neither of these persons in positions of authority chose to respond. Good for you for attending the school board meetings and pressing this issue. With the rise of food allergies, it is time to eliminate these unnecessary possible exposures and the sense of alienation at not being able to participate fully.
My daughter is also ana. to dairy and we had a situation last week at her daycare (one of many we’ve had there…) I pack her lunch and fill out a slip with what she is to have for breakfast, lunch and snack. Apparently, someone used the same spoon to put her food on her plate that they had used to spoon out another chid’s soup. Some of the soup was on Lilly’s food. She knew better than to eat it, and ended up eating only her fruit cup that she knew was indeed safe since everything else was on the same plate as the soup had touched. When she pointed this out, no one did anything about it. When I brought it up to the owner, I was basically told I was unappreciative of the measures that they DO take and what else did I want them to do!!! Can’t wait for the day that this allergy doesn’t rule our lives!
How do you make sure there is no milk in popcorn? If there is no butter, is it safe?
Stacia, in general look at packaged popcorn very carefully for milk by products (go to FAAN’s website for a complete list of names). They aren’t always apparent. You also want to make sure the popcorn doesn’t share equipment with products containing milk, etc. I have found that getting a jar of Plain kernals, and popping the popcorn myself takes only a few minutes and makes yummy all natural popcorn. Hope that helps!
I am a teacher. My school with food free from parties this year! And as a teacher, I couldn’t be happier. It is not my job to feed kids, and I would be devastated to bring harm to any child. I think of my infant with allergies and hope the same for him when he attends school. Good for you! Good for ALL the kids!
Thanks Susanne. It’s so nice to hear the perspective from a teacher as well. The more I delve into the Non Food Birthday Treat Policy, the more I learn about the behind the scenes backlash. So frustrating! Thanks for your comments!