Not to undermine the seriousness of this, but the news story about the girl who died was incorrect. It made headlines around the world when it happened. Unfortunately, the coroner's statements explaining that was NOT the cause of death were not as widely reported.

I have mixed feelings about these policies. Naturally I want to protect any child at risk. But frankly - if I were the parent of a child with such severe allergies, I could NEVER be sure that a food item provided by a third party was safe. Thus I wouldn't let my child eat it. And if that's true, why prohibit others?

On yet another point, regardless of how you proceed - I don't see this as a PTO matter. I'm not sure why it would come up at a PTO meeting.

[ 08-30-2006, 07:17 PM: Message edited by: JHB ]

kat111: pretend for a minute youre the parent of a child with a lifethreatening pnut allergy.

would YOU wnat peanuts or prodcuts served at ANY time on your school grounds?

is it justified, risk vs 'benefit'?

all parents have rights, including the right to bring in pnut butter cookies to parties. but the prinicpal has to act for the good of ALL kids. food brought to the classroom can easily be shared by mistake, and can leave residues on tables.

as someone else pointed out, it doesnt take much (even a muffin tin that was LINED, can leave enuf pnut residue at the next non-pnut ingredient muffin baking) to cause a bad or even deadly, reaction in some people.

there are probably bigger fish to fry in the welless war, and ones for whcih the principal doenst have convenient ammo - ie the health angle of the allergy issue. anwya just some food for thought.

It could be that the principal is using the unfortunate situation of peanut allergies as a spring board for enacting his wellness plans. Surely parents would act more out of concern for these kids than some arbitrary interpretation of emerging junk food laws.

However, it could also be a sincere concern for these kids. We all saw on the news the terrible fate of the girl who died merely by kissing her boyfriend after he ate some peanut butter. No, sadly, not urban legend but a real life tragedy.

There was a boy at my last school who wouldn't even touch anything with peanuts because his brother was so terribly allergic and he lived in fear of doing anything that would harm his brother.

If you suspect a rouse, talk frankly with the principal. As mentioned on other posts, local interpretations are wildly outside of the original intent and common sense should prevail.

If, however, you trust the principal and his intentions, do whatever you can to comply with the new guidelines.

Our elementary school now has 5-6 "peanut Allergy" students. The principal has said that all students must bring in fruit, vegetables or cheese for snack, parties or birthday celebrations (including classrooms that do not have peanut allergy students). They can't even chew gum or have any candy treats on special occasions. Do other school districts have these strict rules? I would like to have some ammunition for our PTO meeting if anyone can give me some direction, I have my suspicions we may have a war the first meeting.