Life-Threatening Food Allergies Policy & Procedures

At last evening's Board meeting, I presented the District's new policy concerning Life-Threatening Food Allergies. Given D110's recent controversy over serving peanut butter in school lunch, the Board felt it was necessary to add a specific policy to deal with this issue.

As a member of the policy committee, I felt compelled to research this issue in depth, not only so that I could make an informed decision, but also to see what other school districts around the country were doing, and hopefully learn from them. It is not often that our Board creates new policies, so it seemed worthwhile to present some reasoning to go with the decision.

I first went to the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota School Board Association, and the Minnesota Department of Health. The first two were silent on the subject, and MDH gave only a link to the guidelines provided by the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network's (FAAN). While these guidelines were "OK" for outlining procedures, it was not really a board-level policy.

After much more research, I found several other states that had adopted comprehensive guidelines for their schools to deal with this growing concern. I also found that all of them outlined an individualized approach to Student needs, and none of them favored removing peanuts and other allergy foods from their menus. I came to the conclusion that D110 should follow their lead.

• Guidelines for Managing Life-Threatening Food Allergies in Connecticut Schools
• Arizona Resource Guide for Supporting Children with Life-Threatening Food Allergies
• Tennessee Guidelines for Managing Life-Threatening Food Allergies
• Managing Life- Threatening Food Allergies In Elementary School Children, Ann Arbor MI Public Schools
• Managing Life Threatening in Schools Food Allergies - Massachusetts

Ultimately, the policy committee recommended the following, which was unanimously approved by the full Board. (See the entire presentation at the bottom of this post)

1. Adopt the Board policy as presented for the first reading. The Policy Committee does not recommend removing any food item from the menu for allergy reasons.
2. Communication with Parents and other stakeholders, including the development of materials for distribution to new families of children with allergies and other medical conditions.
3. Consult the Ann Arbor Schools’ Guide: Managing Life Threatening Food Allergies In Elementary School Children for excellent resources, templates, and other documentation.
4. Clear definition of roles/responsibilities for Administrators, Teachers & Coaches, Students, Parent/Guardian, School Nurse, Food Service, and Bus Company personnel.
   
5. Training for Principals, Teachers & Coaches (including Substitutes), Food Service, Paraprofessionals, and Bus Drivers.

In addition, Dr Rajanen shared with the Board that through a new arrangement with Smuckers, we can send our commodity cans of peanut butter to their processing facilities. They will
make it into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and seal them offsite. We can then
offer them to students, but there is no preparation or handling of the peanut butter in our kitchen or our serving areas. It becomes the same, or less, risk than sandwiches brought to school by students from home. PB&J is never a main item on the school menu, it is presented as an alternative to students who do not want either of the two choices on the menu for that day.

I am extremely pleased with the collaboration we have had on this issue between the Administrators, Teachers, Parents, and the Board. I have high hopes that this is the beginning of a positive new trend.

I commend the parents that came forward to petition for the redress of their grievances. As a whole, they were articulate and passionate on the issue without being confrontational and offensive. They knew that yelling, gross exaggerations, and dramatic demonstrations are never the best way to accomplish something in the public arena, and others could learn from their example. This Board is not a group of unreasonable elitists, and I have seen us react positively to people with a positive message. I'm confident that in short order, we will have established a clear road map for parents of children with medical needs to follow to ensure they are treated correctly and properly in our schools.

Here is the Presentation:


My next stop will be the Minnesota Dept of Ed, to ask why doesn't Minnesota have a comprehensive guideline for all districts statewide to follow, so they don't have to do all of this legwork on their own. I'm not sure we need to go as far as Sabrina's Law here in Minnesota, which our legislature would probably turn into yet another unfunded mandate. When I find out more, you'll read about it here.

11/20/08 Update: Waconia Patriot article: LINK
1/5/09 Update: Time Magazine Article: Have Americans Gone Nuts Over Nut Allergies?

Now with all that said, please take time to honor our Veterans today (see below).
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