[MikeNoun]

Wow, I feel sorry for the girl (and her family), but I agree with the parents of the other kids on this one.

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Some public school parents in Edgewater, Florida, want a first-grade girl with life-threatening peanut allergies removed from the classroom and home-schooled, rather than deal with special rules to protect her health, a school official said.

To protect the girl, students in her class at Edgewater Elementary School are required to wash their hands before entering the classroom in the morning and after lunch, and rinse out their mouths, Wait said, and a peanut-sniffing dog checked out the school during last week's spring break.

Chris Burr, a father of two older students at the school whose wife has protested at the campus, said a lot of small accommodations have added up to frustration for many parents.

"If I had a daughter who had a problem, I would not ask everyone else to change their lives to fit my life," said Burr.

Full story : http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110322/...peanut_allergy

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[68gtoMN]

Agreed. Common sense. This is the correct answer. Period. To accomodate one, the lives/rights of all others must be trampled upon. Not correct.

[Bob Rutledge]

Mike, I know what you are saying, but what is the difference from this, and say changing the curriculum of schools so that slower kids aren't left behind, and the smarter kids dumbed down? I am totally against our education system. This is just another point.

[Cobrabill]

There are a lot more "slow kids" than ones with peanut allergies.

[67_Krewzer]

There are a lot more "slow kids" than ones with peanut allergies.

X 2

[Lightfoot]

Originally Posted by 68gtoMN

Agreed. Common sense. This is the correct answer. Period. To accommodate one, the lives/rights of all others must be trampled upon. Not correct.

X 2

[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by Cobrabill

There are a lot more "slow kids" than ones with peanut allergies.

Alot of this has to do with the "crack babies" coming of age.

We have enough birth defects that occur without the aid of some crack whore
that has no regard for what they bring into this world, that burdens our health,welfare,and education systems.
Add also all the illegals that cant even speak English yet expect their children to receive "special" attention in our public schools.

[Overkillphil]

I ran into this issue a few years ago with my kids in school. Another student supposedly had a peanut allergy. The school sent home a notice indicating the rest of the kids were not permitted to bring any peanut related food or even food with peanuts as a secondary ingredient to school.

Luckily, the student with the allergy was not in the school very long, however I was quite annoyed that I was not permitted to pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for my kids which was a common staple for their lunches.

Other parents were annoyed as well. Apparently the school administrators expect us working drones to be able to afford lunch meat and school lunches everyday! Maybe if I was making 90-150k/year salary like the faculty, I too could have such an arrogant attitude.

[pontiacpetey]

My friend is a chef at a school, a ritzy private academy. Peanuts are banned because of this. When she questioned the administrator about how many kids were affected by apeanut allergy she was told none they know of but they don't want to take any chances WTF>

[MikeNoun]

What I don't understand about this (and someone that knows someone with a peanut allergy, please speak up), is it just a slight "whiff" of a peanut that can cause a reaction?

Are they THAT sensitive to peanuts? Can't they wear a mask of some sort?

Forget about school, how can they walk into a store, mall, walk down a street, or play in a park, without the risk of someone in the vicinity unknowingly opening up a Snickers Bar?

If things were as serious as this, having an entire school forced to wash their hands before and after class, have all the kids have their mouths washed after eating lunch, taxpayers paid peanut sniffing dog on premises, etc, I'd sure as hell be looking for other methods to school my child!

[sleepy]

There are a couple on the board(we've had this come up before) who will cry a river and tell you how much of a heartless cruel bastard you are for not kissing their butt over the peanut/nut ban "because my kids life is in danger if your kid eats PB&J for breakfast" YOU should make sure MY kid can never come in contact with a peanut.
Tuff crap if your kid likes peanut butter.

[pontiacpetey]

Working in a restaurant I encounter this all the time, you could kill somoene with a severe allergy. Rare indeed but it is possible. UNfortunately there are also many people who lie about allergies so the can get special dishes or food prepared the way they want. I had a woman a few weeks ago who said she was allergic to chocolate sauce abd wanted chocolate ice cream instead (roll eyes). Many people are afraid to ask for a special prep which I am usually happy to do.

[Keith Vrabec]

Nut allergies can be pretty severe. Rather than limiting the others, the child with the allergy must be taught to use the Epi-pen, self injecting adrenalin, much the same as the child who suffers from bee allergies. (tough for any kid, but if it can save their lives....)

Alternately if the allergy is severe the child should be desensitized with routine treatments from an allergist. Again a bunch of shots, but life saving shots.

Usually they have to come in contact, usually eating the peanut, to get the severe reaction.

[stimpy]

I have a peanut allergy but only if I eat them I break out in hives , but I take my medicine and I am ok in about a hour , its a bitch as I love PBJ's especially with rhubarb jelly and one of the other things I am not supossed to have, Milk . I am allergic to peanuts , milk products ,chochalate , coconuts , and pinaples , and what sucks is my favorite milkshake has all the above ! so I get doped up on the antihistimine and have at it and itch like a banchi for 12 hours . but I am not gonna stop you if your gonna have any of the foods listed , but if you have a snickers bar you better share ! have had these allergys since I was a rugrat . and when I was younger my throat would close up from the allergens and I had to take epridephrine in a inhaler to aleviate the systems , I am better now that I am older just have to figure out how much and know when its starting to hit me .

[Coach]

Well I have spoken up in the past, my daughter does have severe nut allergies and they can be life threatening. However, the school noted above are idiots and being driven by lawyers, common sense will protect most with allergies.

Mike, to ansmwer your question, in my daughter's case she has to injest or inhale in close proximity the nuts to set of the allergy, she does carry an eppy pen and can use it if need be, but then she is a pre-med college student at this point. She has had mild reactions on planes that serve nuts, but the only time she has had a full blown attack was when she as injested something that was made with nuts.

When she was young she experianced at least one episode a year that ended up with her in the hospitol. At age 5 she knew to ask everyone, everytime, if something she was about to eat contained nuts, unfortunatly there are a lot of clueless people who think that peanut butter does not contain nuts or that an almond is actually a nut. It doesn't really work to tell a 5 year old s/he has to inject herself and teachers and parents are too afraid of lawsuits to do it.

Ok that is factual and gives you an idea. I understand there are people who feel that kids who are not "perfect" should not cause them any inconveinance, whatever.

-Harry

[Rocky Rotella]

I wonder what has caused the peanut allergy to grow so rapidly?

I've acquired an allergy to shrimp and I'm now deathly allergic to it. My reaction is so bad that I have to carry an Epi-pen.

When I went to the allergist for testing, he found I was as allergic to peanuts as I was shrimp, but I've never had an attack from peanuts. His theory was that the proteins I am allergic to get significantly weakened or cooked out during processing, but that I really need to be careful because an attack can come on without warning, sort of like my first attack with shrimp.

If it's anything like my brush with "death" from shrimp, I understand why parents worry for their kids. However, I wouldn't want/expect anyone to quit eating peanut butter because I cant!

[MikeNoun]

Harry, are most of the peanut allergy sufferers like this, where they have to be close proximity, or actually ingest peanuts? Reason I'm asking is that it seems like having peanuts eliminated from school would be sufficient.

Now if just smelling the AROMA of peanuts causes a reaction, then couldn't some sort of mask be used on the child? I know, having a mask is an inconvenience, but like braces, or maybe a neck brace, other kids would get used to it and understand that a child has a medical condition and has to wear a mask.

I'd feel horrible if I walked into a building, some child collapses, people freak out, panic everywhere, an ambulance is called, a child nearly dies, and all because I opened a bag of Planters Cashews.

Are masks feasible, or is it more involved than that?

[Keith Vrabec]

But how does one trust all the parents of all the other kids in the school with your kid's life?

[steve]

my daughter has the peanut allergy. i love her more than i could ever explain in an internet forum. you get peanuts near her and ill kill you.

seriously. put yourself in anothers shoes. have a little empathy. imagine for a moment you could lose your little girl to something so preventable as peanut contamination. you would be a little paranoid too. while i have never expected the public school (or private) systems to accommodate her i am sure glad they do.

once we start excluding kids from everyday experiences because of there differences where should we stop ? ugly kids are banned ? shellfish allergy is a no go ? how about the asthma kid ? dont want him around either ? well i guess if thats the case maybe poor kids and people who cant dress right are next ? PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IS A SYSTEM OF INCLUSION BY ITS VERY DEFINITION. if your kid is too good to be a part of it or you are unwilling to comply there is always private school. my guess is that if you asked your kid they would not have a problem with it. its the adults that are unconvinced with having to make a HAM sandwich instead.

sorry JMO. yes i am one of the ranting members.....

[Coach]

Mike,

I am sure there are all different levels and I am sure there are some kids a lot worse off then my daughter. The doctors told us that her nut allergies are severe and that she will probably not out grow them. In her case she pretty much has to injest them or have the dust blown directly in her face. ( But it only takes a very small amount to set it off ) The reason they will keep nuts off of a plane if you ask is that the system recirculates the air and basicly blows the dust into her face.


When she was very little our fear was a kid getting peanut butter on their hands, playing with a toy, having our child play with that toy, and then put her hand in her mouth. That would be enough to set off a bad attack. Several years ago we went to a resturant where her meal was prepared on a grill where there had been something made with nut oil, that one resulted in a trip to the hospitol as well.

-H