School Parents Want 1st Grader W/ Peanut Allergy Sent Home/Home-Schooled

[LinasK]

Without taking the bandwidth to requote both your last two whole posts Nova, I agree with the majority of it; however, I don't think you realize that we have subsequently learned that in this case in Florida- the girl's allergies weren't so life-threatening that peanuts being on the clothing or such was an issue. Nor were the children in her class, (only her class was affected, not the entire school) required to rinse out their mouths. Only normal, reasonable precautions like hand-washing and not bringing P, B & J sandwiches and such to school. This was a case of major over-reacting by the parents who were unwilling to be the slightest bit inconvienienced and accomodate her.

 

[jjenny]

Actually, the children in her class were required to rinse their mouths. The school admits they went overboard on that, and now the kids will only be required to wipe their mouths. And I have seen no information suggesting her peanut allergies aren't so life threatening.

"A Florida elementary school beset by parental protests is scrapping some of the more severe restrictions it had implemented to protect a first-grader with a severe allergy to nuts, such as obliging classmates to rinse their mouths twice daily with water."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-bc-us--nutallergy-school,0,3303693.story

 

[JBean]

Actually, the children in her class were required to rinse their mouths. The school admits they went overboard on that, and now the kids will only be required to wipe their mouths. And I have seen no information suggesting her peanut allergies aren't so life threatening.

"A Florida elementary school beset by parental protests is scrapping some of the more severe restrictions it had implemented to protect a first-grader with a severe allergy to nuts, such as obliging classmates to rinse their mouths twice daily with water."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-bc-us--nutallergy-school,0,3303693.story

FWIW,they changed the mouth rinsing to wiping prior to the outrage.

>>They also were required to rinse their mouths after lunch, but district spokeswoman Nancy Wait tells ParentDish that requirement was recently changed to simply wiping their faces with a wet cloth -- a change made even before parents decided to protest the district's efforts to keep the unnamed female student safe.<<

http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/23/peanut-allergy-protest-a-misunderstanding-florida-school-dist/



In a nutshell,the parental outrage was about inconvenience to their kids, party food, pbj sandwiches, and teaching time. I didn't read many comments about concern for the welfare of the girl.

 

[gitana1]

Hey Nova.
The sad thing about this whole story is that the concerns of the protesting parents were not about the girl's well being, that was almost an aside. they were protesting about valuable learning time being robbed from their own children and that was violating their rights.
But isn't getting first hand experience in helping someone to do something important a learning experience in and of itself? You can't teach that any other way except doing it.

I read some parents were keeping their children out of the school in protest! Regardless of where any of you are on this issue,how do you all feel about the parents protesting? I mean there are so many issues with all our public school systems, for this to be the issue that caused parents to take some action is unbelievable to me.

I think it's rather insane. If I were a concerned parent of a child at that school I'd ask for a meeting with school officials, maybe the allergic child's mom to educate myself. But protest? I don't get it.

 

[Steely Dan]

FWIW,they changed the mouth rinsing to wiping prior to the outrage.

>>They also were required to rinse their mouths after lunch, but district spokeswoman Nancy Wait tells ParentDish that requirement was recently changed to simply wiping their faces with a wet cloth -- a change made even before parents decided to protest the district's efforts to keep the unnamed female student safe.<<

http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/23/peanut-allergy-protest-a-misunderstanding-florida-school-dist/



In a nutshell,the parental outrage was about inconvenience to their kids, party food, pbj sandwiches, and teaching time. I didn't read many comments about concern for the welfare of the girl.

BBM

I think it's rather insane. If I were a concerned parent of a child at that school I'd ask for a meeting with school officials, maybe the allergic child's mom to educate myself. But protest? I don't get it.

Gitana, you and the protesting parents live in two totally different universes. You live in the one I, and many others here, wished we all lived in. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Too many people in this country live in a universe that extends as far as their arms can reach and not any farther.

It's just sad that so many cold hearts walk this earth.

I wonder how many of those parents are singing hymns and praising Jesus today?

 

[Trident]

BBM



Gitana, you and the protesting parents live in two totally different universes. You live in the one I, and many others here, wished we all lived in. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Too many people in this country live in a universe that extends as far as their arms can reach and not any farther.

It's just sad that so many cold hearts walk this earth.

I wonder how many of those parents are singing hymns and praising Jesus today?

BBM In my belief system, singing hymns and praising Jesus does not negate my God-given free will, freedom to protest included, nor my government-right to freedom of speech.

 

[Steely Dan]

BBM In my belief system, singing hymns and praising Jesus does not negate my God-given free will, freedom to protest included, nor my government-right to freedom of speech.

With all due respect I never said it didn't. Once again as Gitana said it's about the hypocrisy. If you believe that Jesus would take the side of the complaining parents rather than the little girl that is your right.

 

[Tuffy]

I've tried to read as much of the posts as I could to get caught up.

Reading the original article though, I think the young girl's allergies are probably severe enough that she shouldn't be in a regular classroom. I don't know if I would go as far as to protest, but I probably wouldn't send my child there. If my child's allergies were that severe, I don't think I would send her to a class like that either. To me there is just too much risk.

 

[jjenny]

FWIW,they changed the mouth rinsing to wiping prior to the outrage.

>>They also were required to rinse their mouths after lunch, but district spokeswoman Nancy Wait tells ParentDish that requirement was recently changed to simply wiping their faces with a wet cloth -- a change made even before parents decided to protest the district's efforts to keep the unnamed female student safe.<<

http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/23/peanut-allergy-protest-a-misunderstanding-florida-school-dist/



In a nutshell,the parental outrage was about inconvenience to their kids, party food, pbj sandwiches, and teaching time. I didn't read many comments about concern for the welfare of the girl.

Here is the article that quotes the same spokesperson that the school went beyond what was required "a little bit." So I presume the procedures were changed in response to protest, and not before.

"Wait said students will no longer be required to rinse out their mouths before coming into the classroom. However, two first grade classes used by the girl with the allergy will be required to wash their hands and wipe off their mouths twice a day."
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/27299098/detail.html

 

[twinkiesmom]

With all due respect I never said it didn't. Once again as Gitana said it's about the hypocrisy. If you believe that Jesus would take the side of the complaining parents rather than the little girl that is your right.

How do you know the protesting parents are Christians? This is a public school.

 

[JBean]

okay let's all move away from the religious aspects of the story. I am not removing any of the posts regarding the religious discussion, but don't carry it on, please.

 

[JBean]

Here is the article that quotes the same spokesperson that the school went beyond what was required "a little bit." So I presume the procedures were changed in response to protest, and not before.

"Wait said students will no longer be required to rinse out their mouths before coming into the classroom. However, two first grade classes used by the girl with the allergy will be required to wash their hands and wipe off their mouths twice a day."
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/27299098/detail.html

yes and she clarified that in the article I quoted so we would not have to presume or assume as you say you did. The change was made prior, but no one bothered to ask about any of this. They just started picketing for the girl to be removed from the school because their children were being inconvenienced,were being denied party food and peanut butter.But had they taken a moment to talk to the school officials, they could have saved this girl from further humiliation. Actually I would guess some of these parents are pretty embarrassed about their behavior.

If their goal was to save the girl's life by removing the girl from the school, I can understand where they are coming from. But that was not their intention and I am embarrassed for them. LOL.

 

[jjenny]

yes and she clarified that in the article I quoted so we would not have to presume or assume. The change was made prior, but no one bothered to ask about any of this. They just started picketing for the girl to be removed from the school because their children were being inconvenienced,were being denied party food and peanut butter.But had they taken a moment to talk to the school officials, they could have saved this girl from further humiliation. Actually I would guess some of these parents are pretty embarrassed about their behavior.

If their goal was to save the girl's life by removing the girl from the school, I can understand where they are coming from. But that was not their intention and I am embarrassed for them. LOL.

Well, I am not surprised that the parents are confused as to what the school is doing. I am confused as to what the school is doing, or when they changed their procedures, and the spokesperson "clarifying" something she said before when it appears she said a different thing doesn't help me to understand what exactly the school was doing and when it changed.

 

[jjenny]

And the other thing that leaves me confused as to why the school is required to do all these things under ADA but presumably not other public places such as grocery stores, malls, zoos, theaters, movie theaters, etc.
Presumably the child with allergies might want to go to all the other public places in addition to the school. Can such a thing as requiring hand washing, mouths rinsing/wiping/no peanuts be extended to other public places?

 

[JBean]

Well, I am not surprised that the parents are confused as to what the school is doing. I am confused as to what the school is doing, or when they changed their procedures, and the spokesperson "clarifying" something she said before when it appears she said a different thing doesn't help me to understand what exactly the school was doing and when it changed.

I think has much to do with media reporting jjenny.
But you are kind of making one of my points. At a minimum if you are going to actually protest and picket a school to have a child removed, wouldn't you make sure you were clear on what the facts surrounding the controversy are?

 

[JBean]

And the other thing that leaves me confused as to why the school is required to do all these things under ADA but presumably not other public places such as grocery stores, malls, zoos, theaters, movie theaters, etc.
Presumably the child with allergies might want to go to all the other public places in addition to the school. Can such a thing as requiring hand washing, mouths rinsing/wiping/no peanuts be extended to other public places?

Public places and the obligation to provide public education are 2 completely different animals.

 

[twinkiesmom]

What I don't know is where courts have drawn lines on this, but to me, when a child's allergy becomes so severe that s/he can die from breathing near a coat that was merely in the same plane with peanuts (see posts above on this real case), at that point, it's time to keep the child home FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILD as well as for the sake of the other students.

Or we can let Darwin be our guide and just let peanut-allergy sufferers die before they can reproduce. By doing that, we will eventually eradicate peanut allergies from the species.

But personally, I think human beings developed good judgment to protect us from the severity of random natural selection.

It would be the responsibility of the parents to keep the child out of school, not the school deciding not to educate the child. You can't segregate kids from school because they have an allergy.

The kid with the allergy to peanuts on some kid's coat could have an accidental death anywhere, anytime, even in middle age. He or she should be allowed to carry an epi-pen and allowed to live his or her life....and if the school is smart, they will make the school peanut free.

The 13-year old girl likely would not have died if there was an epi-pen in the classroom. Why aren't they suing the doctor for medical malpractice?

When you have a child with a peanut allergy, you are sent home with an epi-pen and told that your child could have a life threatening respiratory event from an accidental exposure. You don't have to have a history of full-blown anaphylaxis to have it occur. You live with the risk as a way of life, and you maintain close contact with the school and room parents.

I asked to have my son placed with other peanut allergic students, and my school declined to group them. We actually would have had two or three peanut-free classrooms for each grade. The school must have seen a benefit to educating the other students about this allergy that they kept the allergic kids in separate sections. I received a phone call whenever outside food was brought into the classroom. The teacher received a list from me of foods we had eaten at home with no problems and had clean labels. The list always included the stipulation to check the current food label. I always said no to food like Dunkin Donuts where peanuts were on the premises. I personally called the manager of Krispy Kremes to make sure they didn't have peanuts or peanut oil. My kid's teacher always had a bag of safe food from me to substitute when a parent brought in Dunkin Donuts. These are not a lot of steps to keep a kid safe and to provide them with a normal life. Again, I did most of the leg work..the teacher made a minute phone call and 30 seconds to read a food label.

There are kids in the school dealing with lifethreatening illnesses such as epilepsy and diabetes that have to leave class to be medicated by the school nurse, and sometimes EMS has to visit the school. Their classmates might get scared by the ambulance. Are you suggesting to homeschool these kids as well?

 

[Tuffy]

It would be the responsibility of the parents to keep the child out of school, not the school deciding not to educate the child. You can't segregate kids from school because they have an allergy.

The kid with the allergy to peanuts on some kid's coat could have an accidental death anywhere, anytime, even in middle age. He or she should be allowed to carry an epi-pen and allowed to live his or her life....and if the school is smart, they will make the school peanut free.

The 13-year old girl likely would not have died if there was an epi-pen in the classroom. Why aren't they suing the doctor for medical malpractice?

When you have a child with a peanut allergy, you are sent home with an epi-pen and told that your child could have a life threatening respiratory event from an accidental exposure. You don't have to have a history of full-blown anaphylaxis to have it occur. You live with the risk as a way of life, and you maintain close contact with the school and room parents.

I asked to have my son placed with other peanut allergic students, and my school declined to group them. We actually would have had two or three peanut-free classrooms for each grade. The school must have seen a benefit to educating the other students about this allergy that they kept the allergic kids in separate sections. I received a phone call whenever outside food was brought into the classroom. The teacher received a list from me of foods we had eaten at home with no problems and had clean labels. The list always included the stipulation to check the current food label. I always said no to food like Dunkin Donuts where peanuts were on the premises. I personally called the manager of Krispy Kremes to make sure they didn't have peanuts or peanut oil. My kid's teacher always had a bag of safe food from me to substitute when a parent brought in Dunkin Donuts. These are not a lot of steps to keep a kid safe and to provide them with a normal life. Again, I did most of the leg work..the teacher made a minute phone call and 30 seconds to read a food label.

There are kids in the school dealing with lifethreatening illnesses such as epilepsy and diabetes that have to leave class to be medicated by the school nurse, and sometimes EMS has to visit the school. Their classmates might get scared by the ambulance. Are you suggesting to homeschool these kids as well?

The idea that peanut allergy could be weeded out through natural selection is ridiculous. It's not a simple mutation. The kid has a genetic predisposition to allergy, and is sensitized to peanuts through exposure. My kid currently has no evidence of allergy, so clearly it's not genetic.

BBM:

I have noticed the epi-pen mentioned a few times in this thread. I just wanted to mention that while epinepherine will slow the onset of anaphalxis, it will only buy you about 20-30 minutes to get help.

A girl in Canada died after her boyfriend kissed her. He had eaten a peanut butter sandwich hours earlier, but traces of peanut remained. She used an epi-pen, but she still died.

I wanted to point out that these types of allergies are quite serious, and having an epi pen on hand won't necessarily change the outcome.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=1358275

ETA- Also, worth noting, an allergy can go from a mild reaction one time to a fatal reaction at the very next exposure too. Also, onset can happen at any age, to things that you previously weren't at all allergic to.

 

[Steely Dan]

[video=youtube;rsVViq9rdmo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVViq9rdmo[/video]

This mentions that some believe that the rise in allergies is due to our becoming neurotic about germs. I agree. We're letting our immune systems get weak and it's causing problems for a lot of people. Antibacterial soaps are a big reason, IMO. I stopped using them when I found out they kill the beneficial bacteria on the skin too.

 

[angelmom]

I think has much to do with media reporting jjenny.
But you are kind of making one of my points. At a minimum if you are going to actually protest and picket a school to have a child removed, wouldn't you make sure you were clear on what the facts surrounding the controversy are?

Well, to be fair, we don't know that they didn't. I can only take from my own experience, in which our school has recently been labeled a snotty, demanding bunch. That happened after a planned protest of a fundraiser, which truly did only hurt the students. Sadly, the only way to get the attention of the principal, board, and superintendent was to hit them where it hurts - in the pocketbook. BUT...this was a last resort after dozens of parents met with the principal, teacher, board, and super and got absolutely no respect, response, or satisfaction. The problem has now been resolved, and fundraising is at it's highest level in years, despite the still lagging economy in our area.

For all we know, there have been meetings, and the principal or school nurse or teacher or whomever has given conflicting information, vague details, or just enough incompetence to make these parents very afraid. They could, in fact, be doing all of this out of fear for this little girl's life because the school is not actually handling it well. Maybe their children are actually friends with the little girl, and they know straight from her mother's mouth that the school is not doing what they have agreed to do, and the only way to get anyone's attention is to create a PR problem.

From the link in the OP:

Wait said school leaders will meet this week with parents to address concerns and try to halt inaccurate rumors that children's mouths were being wiped with disinfectant.

So they haven't met with parents yet? Rumors are flying? The girl's parents aren't commenting, so we really don't even know what they think.

And, in fact, the other parents are not demanding that she be homeschooled. To quote the OP:

"That was one of the suggestions that kept coming forward from parents, to have her home schooled.

I'm not shocked that it was suggested; it's been suggested here. It's a possibility. But it makes for better headlines if you portray these parents as a lynch mob trying to burn the child out of her elementary school.

BBM:

I have noticed the epi-pen mentioned a few times in this thread. I just wanted to mention that while epinepherine will slow the onset of anaphalxis, it will only buy you about 20-30 minutes to get help.

A girl in Canada died after her boyfriend kissed her. He had eaten a peanut butter sandwich hours earlier, but traces of peanut remained. She used an epi-pen, but she still died.

This was later proven untrue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11659935/ns/health-allergies_and_asthma/

“The Canadian Association of Food Allergies intended to use the Desforges case to launch an education campaign,” he said. “I had to tell them the cause of death was different than first believed.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500486_162-1614851-500486.html

"Nine hours passed between the time when the young man ate his two toasts (with peanut butter) and 3 a.m., when he kissed Christina," Miron said. "A recent study shows at the end of an hour, there is no allergen left in the saliva."

He said she had spent hours at a party with smokers when her breathing problems began. Around 3 a.m., Desforges said she was having trouble breathing and collapsed shortly after.

(OT: but why was this 15yo girl out at a party at 3am? :waitasec: I never picked up on that little detail!)