Peanut Allergey

If my child had a LIFE THREATENING peanut allergy he wouldn't be going to (voluntary) preschool!

Sorry!

I don't think that school is right for your son. In pre-school you have a choice about where your child attends. I would find a school that is willing to protect your son instead of one that is fighting tooth and nail not too.

I think you have to get the county and school board to enforce the peanut free policy.

You are your son's biggest (and sometimes only) advocate.

This is called a "special accomodation" and it's something that your son is legally entitled to have in order to obtain an education. This needs to be documented and you will have to be super vigilant.

So, the first thing I would do is go the principal and ask how you can work together to achieve a safe environment for your son. Bring the Dr info on his allergy. Bring info on what he can and can't have. Bring literature on how to use an epi pen (AT LEAST his teacher, the nurse and probably one other person will need to be trained, since it's a school).

However..... my question is.... if he is really *deathly* allergic and cannot come into ANY contact directly or INDIRECTLY...... is a public school with 4 year olds the best place for him? what if I feed my son peanut butter on his toast and it gets on his jeans and then they share a toy? What if my daughter gets peanut butter in her hair, which your son touches as he reaches across her to hang up his coat.

if you *really* mean DEATHLY allergic..... I would not send my child to a school who thus far has *refused* to comply with the peanut free policy. There would be too much education that would need to occur and too large of a mindset change that would have to occur for me to feel remotely comfortable in sending my child there every day.

My sister's best friend is *deathly* allergic to direct or indirect shellfish. She can get hives if the person NEXT TO HER is eating shellfish. Even if she talks to the manger about special preparations at restaurants.... she has ended up in the ER with a thing jammed down her throat and extra shots TWICE, actually close to dying if the ambulance hadn't got there in time because HER epi pen didn't do the trick, when the manager *assured her* they had taken *special precautions*. So, at this point....... she doesn't go to restaurants that HAVE ANY SHELLFISH ON THEIR MENU. At all. None. Because she is *deathly* allergic. So, I'm not sure if you were actually being serious when you said *deathly allergic due to indirect or direct contact* but no way no how would I send my child to public school with that kind of an allergy.

Good luck.

If your son is that allergic, you are putting him into a potentially life threatening environment.
Even schools who ban it have a hard time because there is no guarantee that people will forget, or someone had peanut butter on toast for breakfast and didn't wash their hands enough, or didn't know that milk chocolate M&M's are made in the same factory as peanut M&M's and could cause contamination.
At best, bans provide a false sense of security.
People who eat peanuts/peanut products are not bad people who are intentionally eating peanuts to harm other people.
It's a cheap, tasty readily available protein source and %99 of the population can eat it with no difficulties.
Peanut butter jars do not come with a skull and crossbones poison label.
No public place can be as totally under control as you need it to be for your son's safety.
I know you want to fight and say 'they have to make it safe enough'.
It's the law they have to try, but they are not liable if they fail.
A peanut free lunch table is not going to be enough to protect him.
And are you going to care about liability if your son dies?
You are choosing to put him into this environment.
Home schooling would be your safest option because your home is totally under your control.
I delete hate mail so don't bother.

I'm really surprised and disturbed to hear this. My daughter is deathly allergic to peanuts, so I know how difficult it is to keep kids safe when they are not with us.

If the school is not willing to enforce the policy, this is not a safe place for him. A 4-5 year old is not capable of protecting himself. What are your other options?

There were no peanut free zones or peanut free schools when my daughter was young. It was one of the reasons I homeschooled her. When she was older, she carried an epi pen and we we left an emergency kit with an epi pen and benadryl with the school nurse, had meetings with her teachers so they knew what to do and made sure there was an treatment sheet in her classroom. So one option might be to enlist the aid of your child's teacher and see if he/she is willing to help you. However, you probably know that teachers are responsible for many children and can't watch him every moment. So it might be better to wait until your son is older and knows how to avoid possible peanut contact at school as his first line of defense.

Your son's allergy is protected under the Disability Act. If they refuse to accommodate him with your medical documentation, you can remind them they are breaking the law.

I totally understand what you are saying. I have the most severe peanut allergy. As a child it was never ME my parents had to worry about, it was other children who had never been around a peanut allergy. THEY could cause me to go into shock. I knew how to handle it, but they certainly didn't.

I agree maybe a public school is not the place for your son. You can't control what people feed their kids at home, and if your son is that allergic I wouldn't risk it.

If i had a kid this age with a life threatening allergy, I would not do preschool at all. If you are doing preschool because you work, then what I have to say won't apply. But preschool in completely unnecessary from an academic stand point. It may occupy them, and keep them busy and entertained, but the things they learn in preschool will not make or break them academically in school. he is far better off to stay home if its that serious. Maybe in Kindergarden he can be trusted to carry and use an Epipen.

If his allergy is as bad as you say, homeschool him. This is the only way to
be sure he is safe.

I read this question earlier today and decided to delete it because I cannot answer this question without getting on a soapbox. I decided I still want to answer it though.

I feel so bad that so many kids are going through this. I wish I knew what was causing this huge wave of nut allergies to suddenly be bombarding kids today. I think there has to be some environmental trigger to it. Something that many many people have been exposed to or something. There were no nut allergies when I was a kid or even a young mother. I never heard of it until I was an adult with grand kids.

Again, I am very sorry your family is going through this, along with many others of you that deal with this every day too.

That said.....

My grand kids love peanut butter. They eat it for breakfast, my granddaughter has a PB&J for lunch every day except Wednesday when it's chicken day. She wants it for breakfast in her cereal, her after school snack, etc...both kids love peanut butter.

Here's what I get out of your letter. You expect me to take peanut butter out of my home because your child is allergic to nuts. You expect me to not allow them to eat PB&J for breakfast if that is what they want. If they do eat that then I would be expected to give them a shower and dress them in clean clothes after eating. Then I would have to brush their teeth because they might miss a crumb of nuts in their teeth and accidentally drool and wipe their mouth then touch a toy that your son will eventually touch.

All the granola bars would have to be in the trash, almost all cereal has some form of nuts. So many things this would take out of my home. No nuts on anything ever again so that your child won't have a reaction.

I would not want to live with this fear. I would never allow my child out of the house. I cannot imagine what your life is like and the fear that you live with daily. I could not live like that. It must be horrible to fear going places and him touching something with nut residue on it. I imagine he can't even go to a park because squirrels eat nuts and drop debris on the ground. How sad for your little guy.....
------------------------------------------

Back to your question. If the school is not enforcing this policy I would make sure the school knew I was going to pursue the issue of it being upheld.

Then the parents of the current children must know that you are doing this so they can have a say in this policy. Many parents may be new to the school and also unaware of this. They need to fully understand what the policy means. NUT FREE means they must not have nuts on their children when they come to school. That means no nuts in their homes.

If you go to the school board meeting and get the opportunity to speak you can tell the school board you are going to legally pursue this policy not being enforced and could they please make it mandatory for every school to uphold it. You could talk to an attorney and find out if you can force them to uphold it or if this would backfire and they take the rule off the books totally.

Each parent will need to know what this exactly means. Truly, they cannot allow their kids to eat any kind of nut then come to school. It would be too dangerous for your child.

I can honestly say if I got a note sent home that this was going to be enforced I would not allow it. I would state is was discriminatory against my kids freedom to eat foods they liked and it was not my responsibility to protect someone else's child but that child's parents job to protect them.

I know this is going to open a can or worms at this child's school but you do need to pursue it, it might work out well for you too.

My son's school has a nurse that develops a prevention plan for my son. We meet about this twice a year. You can ask for the same thing, and make your issues known.

Your son has a disability as defined under ADA and federal civil rights law, namely Section 504. If they don't maintain an allergen free learning environment, they are disciminating against him. What you need to do is initiate the process for requesting a Section 504 plan so that you can specify what accommodations your child needs to stay safe in school. We had to do this back when our school didn't even have a food allergy policy. It really gets the schools' attention! I will send you a private message with more detailed information. Hang in there...

You may have to choose another preschool.
You have a right to choose another school.

Not all schools are like that.

My kids' school, public school, is peanut AND nut free.
And they enforce it.

I talked to a friend who's son has a deathly peanut allergy. He is now going to college next year. She said she had to have them start a peanut free table in his grade school for her son. All she did was call the principal and explain the situation to him and they did it. She also did the same thing in middle school. So, are you saying you have talked to the principal and he/she has said no? I would think they would be motivated by not wanting your son to die on their watch so I am really surprised by that.