Peanut Allergies

Parent Cafe
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<p>Allmusic,</p>

<p>I think you’re touching on another (important) issue, namely, the fact that school lunches are pretty horrible. Pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs - eewww. What you are never going to find in a school lunch, anywhere, is a proliferation of healthy food in sufficient quantity for the students. (Sure, I have a tapeworm, but I always thought that the lunches were too small. It’s better for kids to eat more healthy food at lunch rather than being ravenous at 3 pm and eating chips.) </p>

<p>This means that parents have a very strong incentive to send their kids to school with their own lunches.</p>

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<p>Happily, many school districts are making an effort towards healthier lunches. They have removed carbonated beverages, reduced fried foods and increased availablity of soups, fresh fruits and vegetables (Yay for salad bars!). At least they are moving in the right direction!</p>

<p>Now, if only we can more kids to actually choose the healthier foods and pass on the pizza and french fries… :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>“Children who are anaphylactic from inhaled allergens have the right to be protected somehow. Maybe this means tables free of the offending food, or a room that allows the food, or a room that disallows the food. It is the schools’ duty to find a solution for each INDIVIDUAL situation, just as they do for LD kids or handicapped kids. In very severe cases, maybe coping means that the parent needs to homeschool their child or the school district provides a tutor if they cannot adequately insure the child’s safety.”</p>

<p>I think this attitude that it is the “school’s duty” to find a solution for each INDIVIDUAL solution is one of the major problems with public schools. Whether the problem is an allegic child or an LD - enormous resources are utilized for the benefit of one child at the expense of other children who may also need assistance - but the PC diagnosis always wins. </p>

<p>“Honestly, while there are lots of food allergies from ingestion, the instances of reaction by inhalation are relatively few. In most cases, separating the tables in the cafeteria should be enough.”</p>

<p>But again, the pc police come out in force - there are numerous schools that have banned peanut products - even though all “objective” thinkers understands that it is impossible to totally protect those students. In the meantime, other students who depend upon nut products to deal with their allergies or dietary limitations suffer. </p>

<p>And, again, the concept that every child should be guaranteed an allergen free environment is ridiculous. Most classrooms have carpet and mold in the carpet from wet shoes - there are kids deathly allergic to such molds and mildews. I’ve already mentioned those with latex allergies. No school can be free of latex. </p>

<p>I don’t think we should ever made schools responsible for INDIVIDUALs. Instead we should have been more honest and stated that public schools are designed for the “average student”. </p>

<p>Again, I am a big believer in persoanl responsiblity.</p>

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<p>“Whether the problem is an allegic child or an LD - enormous resources are utilized for the benefit of one child at the expense of other children who may also need assistance - but the PC diagnosis always wins.”</p>

<p>I don’t think that this true. There are programs in place for kids struggling in academics who are not identified as LD. Schools have small seperate reading and math programs for such children. There are special programs for ESL kids too. They get a different piece of the financial pie. This is not a race, and I don’t think that if a child with special needs gets some support, it means that the other kids lose. Also, it is the law to provide an appropriate education to children with disabilities at no cost to the family. When we are dealing with food allergies, a few small accommodations are not adding up into big bucks. I don’t think that an entire school should be barred from peanuts for one child, but creating a peanut free room, corner, table, etc. is a minimal thing that can be done.</p>

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<p>“This is not a race, and I don’t think that if a child with special needs gets some support, it means that the other kids lose.”</p>

<p>In many cases it means exactly that! There is just so much money available for education - each time a “special program” or special ed teacher is hired - it means another program or teacher cannot be funded. Small class size for special needs kids means larger class size for those without those needs.
And, certain LD’s are recognized while others are not. And, that doesn’t even begin to address the BD’s (behavioral disorder) kids whose “right” to attend school may put the health and even life of other kids at risk.</p>

<p>If you are not aware of all these problems in the funding decisions of public schools - it’s because you haven’t looked.</p>

<p>“I don’t think that an entire school should be barred from peanuts for one child, but creating a peanut free room, corner, table, etc. is a minimal thing that can be done.”</p>

<p>I totally agree with you - but the pc police often believe otherwise. Whole schools ban peanut products - and, I believe, all of Canada bans these products in their schools.</p>

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<p>I have not seen mainstream kids getting short-changed b/c of special needs students in my experience. It may happen, b/c my point of reference is only one school district. I do agree that not all disabililities are recognized, as I have read about this happening. I don’t think that it should matter what the disability is, b/c if it impacts learning, IMO it should be recognized.</p>

<p>BTW, peanuts are not allowed in our schools. I don’t know if they are “banned”. It really means that there are letters sent home which ask parents not to send in peanut products. I have stated this already, but I will say this again- I don’t think that our school knows what it is doing in this respect. They are not monitoring parties, bakesales, and really what gets brought in from home anyway, so there is a false sense of security for the allergic child and their parents.</p>

<p>Oh, one more thing about the inappropiate behavior of special needs children. I believe that the law says that special needs children cannot be in the mainstream if they are interfering with the learning and safety of the other children. I am not a lawyer, so I won’t bother to try to research it, but I do think that this is the law. I am sure there are gray areas, as there are many children that misbehave in school from time to time. Frankly, I will admit that situation has effected one of my children in 2- 50 minute classes throughout his K-12 education. Additionally, he was physically struck during class by one child in this category, and there were appropriate consequences given to that child.</p>

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<p>“I have not seen mainstream kids getting short-changed b/c of special needs students in my experience.”</p>

<p>Your school district must be very unusual or else your definition of “short-changed” is different than most. In most districts, class-sizes of non-special-ed classes are becoming larger, electives are being eliminated, music/art/p.e classes are being eliminated, smaller advanced classes are being eliminated. Bus zones are becoming larger to make up for the one child door-to-door service of special buses. </p>

<p>A school district cannot continue to expand special ed - to the extent of allocating teachers on a one-to-one basis - without reducing services/equipment/supplies to other students.</p>

<p>Additionally, ask any elementary teacher how much of their time they must devote to “problem students” guaranteed a right to a “mainstream” classroom. Having volunteered in classrooms since my son began school, I will tell you it is really unbelievable. </p>

<p>As the kids get older, the risks become more serious. You would be very surprised if you knew how many kids in high school have already hurt others. If the student was not granted “protected status” because of their disability - they would have been expelled under the “zero tolerance” laws. But, instead, they are transferred and no one in the new school is informed.</p>

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<p>I have seen mainstream kids getting short-changed because of special needs students. It happens in many districts, in my experience. Where one severely autistic kid can cost $50 to $100 THOUSAND per year, that represents the full cost of 10 to 20 mainstream kids (WA state provides around $5K/child). So one autistic child can mean one full classroom less–or twenty classrooms that have 21 students instead of 20. Now, if the district then does a great job of meeting that kid’s needs, other parents with autistic children move in–and now the twenty classrooms have twenty-three or twenty-four students instead of 20. </p>

<p>As another example, should a child with Rett syndrome–children who are profoundly disabled and need extremely expensive care–be allowed to consume the funds of thirty or forty children? In a small school district–town population was only 5000–that one Rett syndrome child represent an entire classroom of students, plus several special programs like art and music. How do I know this? When the child died, sadly, at age 13, class sizes dropped from 25 to 18 and the art and music programs were restored.</p>

<p>Should the needs of autistic children (or those with other disabilities) be ignored? Of course not. But should the cost of meeting a FEDERAL law–the Americans with Disabilities Act–fall so thoroughly at the local level?</p>

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<p>No the costs should not fall on the local school district, but I know that they do and that there is not enough federal money to cover what federal law says is required. So far, I must say that we have not had the budget issues that you are seeing in your districts, but our property taxes (which pay for the bulk of public schooling in NJ) are through the roof!</p>

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<p>But sheesh, if schools can make arrangements for disabled students to have a full time attendant, if they can overlook a certain amount of class disruption from emotionally disturbed students, and if they can provide nearly one-on-one classes for Downs or Autistic children (all of which utilize alot of resources), they can surely have a janitor wipe down a table in the corner of the cafeteria for an allergic child.</p>

<p>It sounds that some of the discontent with the public school system really extends beyond the lunch allergy issue. And as mainstream programs are underfunded and sometimes disappear, I’m not sure that I disagree. The majority of the students do lose out by suffering things such as underequipped science labs and loss of fine arts programs. My kids have been negatively affected by attending classes with profoundly disabled children. Heck, one time our teacher had 28 elementary students in a class with three disabled children and no aid to help (one mostly deaf, one legally blind and one who could barely sit in the chair without falling out). One of my students had a child in class that made frequent uncontrollable noisy outbursts. Not the best situation. However, inclusion of children is the law and I think it only includes needier children as the years pass. Parents of these kids know their legal rights and many push them right to the limit of reason. There’s probably no going back.</p>

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<p>The peanut issue just brings up so many interesting issues, and Chipper and dmd hit on several that I see profoundly affecting education in my town as well. Despite our ginormous property taxes, said taxes simply cannot begin to cover the mandates.</p>

<p>We also have many kids placed out of district, at expensive schools costing $80-100K per year. For many of these children, the schools are therapeutic, and the “educational” component is secondary, yet, we as taxpayers fund them…because we are required to fund their “education” by law.</p>

<p>People believe that other aspects of regular ed are not affected? ARE YOU KIDDING? We cut teachers, programming, and supplies in regular ed every single year, while children attend $100K a year placements. Yes, there are regular ed classes with 31 children, while some special kids have one on one attention.</p>

<p>Last year my daughter’s class was next to the class for autistic children, where there was near constant screaming, crying or yelling most of the year. When I questioned the principal about this, I was told that “the needs of these children” had to be taken into account, and that they couldn’t help their behavior. I understand that, but what about the 22 children in my child’s classroom? Why wasn’t it important that they have a quiet classroom in which to learn? Were their needs less important? Seems so.</p>

<p>It is the same with the peanut allergy. The bulk of the children have their own needs compromised for the needs of one or a couple. Since when have we become so PC that we no longer think about the good of the whole…but only of the good of a few?</p>

<p>It isn’t that I don’t care about the different needs of children. I care acutely. However, we have lost our way in the way we deal with it, and truthfully, I think this is the source of one of our biggest problems in public education.</p>

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<p>“The bulk of the children have their own needs compromised for the needs of one or a couple. Since when have we become so PC that we no longer think about the good of the whole…but only of the good of a few?”</p>

<p>Allmusic,</p>

<p>The issue can be even more serious than you describe.</p>

<p>My next door neighbor was the head of science at her large high school - the most high achieving school in the state and in the most expensive suburban area. This teacher refused to allow a student with a “documented behavioral disability” to take Honors Biology with a dissection lab - which involved the use of a scapel - after this kid had permanently injured another by stabbing him in the back of the neck with an ink pen. She was told that this student had to be allowed in the Biology class and in Honors Chemistry.</p>

<p>When she refused, at a meeting with the students parents AND lawyers and lawyers fore the school system, she was told she would be fired for non-compliance. The same consequences would be enforced if she shared her concerns with other students’ parents. This student, of course, had been “quietly” transferred to this school where no one knew the dangers and risks.</p>

<p>So, this student who already had permanently injured another student with an ink pen - BTW, the student still in rehab - was “guaranteed” admission to group labs with access to a scapel and acid. And, the student in question, did not want a “permanent aid” who might call attention to her plight - so there was no extra help in the lab.</p>

<p>This teacher was violating the “law” by calling parents and asking for volunteer help in the labs. She said this situation, or others even more dangerous - like violations of weapon laws - are more common than we think. That all the “zero tolerance” laws only apply to non-special-ed students. She said parents don’t have a clue how many many special-ed students who have violated weapons laws are just transferred to other schools.</p>

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<p>allmusic, You are right. The school was not doing its job. They should have made provisions for soundproofing, or done something. That is absolutely not right. The students should have a classroom that are favorable for learning.</p>

<p>Chipper, We have seen this too. We have the same problems in our district. One student that was in my son’s grade was expelled from several schools (only have been told this from son’s friends that know this boy better than our son, but no personal knowledge). The family picked up and moved to our district. There was an incident in our school that went from expulsion, to suspension, to wording that I no longer recall which meant a couple of sessions with his psychiatrist and everything was back to the normal school situation for this boy. The incident was so outrageous and it involved a meeting of the entire grade to explain the inappropriateness of the behavior. I won’t outline the details, but anywhere else it would have lead to his arrest!</p>

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<p>Chipper, that story is maddening, but I have similar ones. I know the disciplinary laws for special ed students are completely different than those for non-special ed students. Regular ed students can be suspended for actions that special ed students cannot, if they can somehow prove that the action was the result of their disability. I have seen horrific actions that are basically ignored, due to the child being on an IEP.</p>

<p>When the original special ed laws, which morphed into the IDEA law, came into practice, they were really meant to level the playing field for students with special needs. And, of course, that made sense, since everyone doesn’t learn exactly the same way, and some children do have greater needs than other.</p>

<p>What has transpired is an out-of-control system that financially favors certain children over others, and has parents clamoring for private testing, so that their kids too can be recipients of this special attention. </p>

<p>The other part that irks the heck out of me is that we really ignore the best and brightest, in favor of children who really will return little to society. Why should the gifted be left to fend for themselves (in my state, we have no funding for gifted ed at all), while a child with an IQ of 50 has a $60K placement? It makes no sense, and no…it isn’t a PC point of view; I will probably be flamed, but I am tired of being PC on this particular topic.</p>

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<p>These last few pages have made me so glad mine are at the college level now. There were so many times I wanted to start a “stink” and demand equal education for my children. If some receive one on one attention, is it not “discrimination” of some sort to keep the other 90% or so in a 30:1 ratio?</p>

<p>There was a student at a local elementary school, who was W/C bound, diapered, and on tube feedings. Totally unable to communicate with other children and minimally with the full time attendant the school system provided. Tell me this is not taking money from the rest of the system! I feel for parents with children with terrible disabilities, but inclusion is not the answer for these situations.</p>

<p>Some of our schools have had to drop foreign language at the elementary and middle school levels, because so much money is spent on EC and ESL.</p>

<p>Back to topic. Dealing with the food allergies would not be cost prohibitive, but I agree with some of the previous posters that it may give a false sense of security.</p>

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<p>

No flames here. I remember when my gifted & talented programme was cut. I remember going to nationals in Science Olympiad when our school district gave us nothing - so it was all parental involvement, donations from businesses (mostly science firms in the area) and parents paying for it - esp. hard on those families with uber-talented kids but no money. Sad reality is, when you get too PC about intelligent kids, you screw over those with brains but no resources - the ultimate reversal of the idea of public school.</p>

<p>This, IMO, is the same general problem that you see in a lot of other areas - people go very quickly from “equal access” to “more access.” I vividly recall receiving disciplinary sanctions in middle school for not socialising with a girl on weekends. Yes, you read that right. She harassed all of my friends into an oblivion - abusing the peer correction system to mark all of their answers wrong so they had to stay after school; demanding that she be paired with them; &c. I just ignored her… so one day, she walked into the vice-principal’s office and said that I was ruining her life. PC world dominated, so I was basically ordered to invite her along with my friends when we went out to movies. (I’m actually serious.) After a few more incidents like that, Zeus had to bring it to the superintendent and threatened to sue for the disruption of my education, because the administration kept pulling me out of class (often publicly). So ridiculous.</p>

<p>In my world, the way to analyse any problem like that is to ignore the disbility issue. It’s a social issue, entirely outside of school; kids have the right to not be friends with other kids; and none of it was motivated by animus towards her disability (just her personality). </p>

<p>There are probably a lot of solutions for keeping the costs of educating special ed students down. I fully agree that the worst thing a town can do to itself is to be too good in educating expensive children. There just isn’t enough money to go around. Again, bright kids from struggling families suffer. Perhaps there could be some sort of county-wide or state-wide system to educate these children in a more centralised location - utilise the economy of scale - and do it with public, not private, schools. </p>

<p>Agree, though, with LFK - so long as we’re spending $100,000 on one student, we can spend a few hundred in janitorial overtime to keep the tables clean.</p>

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<p>“Should the child with the life threatening latex allergy require all eraser rubbings, rubberbands, balls, gym mats etc. be removed?”</p>

<p>Just saw this thread and wanted to comment coz this one applies to me. My DS has a latex allergy, caused by too many exposures during hospitalizations. He was diagnosed around 6 or 7yo - too young to be able to handle this on his own. We found a list of all products containing latex and it was frightening and exhausting. My son did NOT want to be homeschooled. He had missed many days/weeks/months of school throughout the years due to medical issues and he felt being homeschooled would be punishment. Believe me, it would have been easier to control his environment but I didn’t want to kill his spirit. He has been kept home when his health was frail but those times were never meant to be permanent.</p>

<p>We worked with the school, telling them we hoped to reduce his exposure but we’d have to play it by ear as we were learning as well as the school. We didn’t expect the world to stop for him but we hoped for help and acceptance. Many latex products have alternatives so we worked it out, little by little. The list of latex items is a mile long, but we found few items gave him trouble (art supplies, gym equipment, etc). The school banned latex balloons and vinyl gloves replaced latex ones (even in the cafeteria). </p>

<p>Small mistakes were made but rather than scream in frustration, my son learned to “deal”. One day, someone forgot to tell the police who decorated the school for DARE day with red balloons, so my son just suggested he come home for the day. Or the day he refused to get on the school bus coz some kids had balloons. He just called me to come pick him up. It was an easy solution. The school’s policy was no Halloween masks long before my son came along, but he still had to be careful when out trick or treating with friends. Some of those masks really give off strong fumes so he avoided Halloween parties held indoors. My son learned to avoid rubber toys (Stretch Armstrong, the dog) and anything “questionable.” He grew up playing bball & tennis but used older rubber balls or left new ones outside for a few days to air out. He wore sneakers but has always had to leave new ones outside for a day or so also. On a school trip to VA, the school forgot to make pre-arrangements with the restaurant so I suggested we stop at a latex free restaurant (Outback) and we got him a takeout dinner. He doesn’t like to “be different” but sometimes there’s no alternative. We wouldn’t say the entire school couldn’t go to a restaurant coz they used latex gloves. On future trips, he learned to call the restaurants himself to make sure he could eat there (or bring his own). </p>

<p>“Does he react?” For sure, but we’ve avoided the life threatening exposures for the most part. He often has rashes on his feet. One day he reacted strongly to a classmate’s incessant erasing. He simply moved across the room. He has reacted to many foods and that’s scary but the meds worked and he learned to avoid those foods. Strangely, his worst episodes have occured while hospitalized. We’re vigilant about checking medical supplies, live IV ports and even syringes (some contain latex). Our biggest school challenge was when they renovated over the summer, replacing all the carpet and painting all the walls. Since carpet backing is latex (so is most wallpaper), we worried so we asked to walk him through the school a couple days before they opened. If he reacted, we told him he would have to be home-schooled or go to a different elem school (but it turned out ok).</p>

<p>Each case is different. We did ask for some concessions but mostly saw the school as our ally. We worked as a team to AVOID problems and look for easy solutions. I believe our school system has peanut free tables. I remember my youngest being commended for eating there alot, even though she doesn’t have allergies. She didn’t see what the big deal was. Her friend needed to be there so she was just keeping her company. I think it’s good to teach our kids to be kind and accomodating to others. One thing I’ve learned through my son’s many surgeries & recoveries is that kids adapt very well and so do other kids around them. It’s the adults that have the most problems.</p>