Valentine 2015 Party (Elementary) - Letter

[Stinky10]

Allergy Aware
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. It falls on a Saturday, so many classes may choose to celebrate on Fri- day- the last day before mid-winter break. This is great news for most of our students, but BADNEWS for any of our students with food allergies. In order to include all our students in the celebration we MUST keep ALL of our students safe. This means, it is extremely important that the classroom celebrations are “allergy aware”.
FACTS: (from http://foodallergy.org)
Food allergies are on the rise in the U.S. According to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies increased almost 50% between 1997 and 2011.
1 in every 13 children (under 18 years of age) has been diagnosed with a life threatening food allergy. Every 3 minutes, a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency department.
Eight foods account for 90% of all reactions: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish. Even trace amounts of a food allergen can cause a reaction.
170 different foods have been found to cause anaphylactic or life threatening reaction.
Our students with food allergies are protected by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This law states: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability (which includes food allergies) in the United States…shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of (which includes parties), or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance …" Furthermore, due to privacy laws (FERPA & HIPAA), information about which students have these conditions cannot be disclosed.
The best way to keep students with food allergies safe in the classroom is to read labels and be prepared. We want our students to enjoy classroom celebrations, but the less food, snacks, treats, candy, etc. in the classroom, the easier it is to keep all students safe.
Pleas e talk dir ectl y to yo ur child’s teach er to d ete r mine whi ch sna cks ar e per mitted in th e clas s r oo m.

[Macabre]

So, so cool. Wow.


But Halloween?

[PurpleCat]

LOL!  I wondered why Halloween was coming up today!

Great letter, is this something your school is going to use?

This is the first year ever any of my kids has no restrictions in the classroom for Valentine's Day.  There are no children with allergies in his class.  It's weird to me but he is excited to pass out Fun Dip cards.

It's also the last time too since he moves on to Middle School next year.

[Stinky10]

Ooops....maybe I need more sleep!  Edited to correct the "holiday". 

This was sent to parents at the Elementary that my son went to K-4.   The same elementary that suggested that he eat lunch in the office alone.

They have come a long way.

I don't like the emphasis on food allergies - when Wellness policy could be used.  I don't like the BADNEWS line.   

But I VERY much like the educational piece - he's telling them about the law, food allergy statistics, etc. rather than just state the policy.  Our district is supposed to come up with a revised district policy before valentine party time.

My son is in middle school - his classrooms are supposed to be "food free" so we'll see how that goes.

[SilverLining]

I don't like the emphasis on food allergies - when Wellness policy could be used.  I don't like the BADNEWS line.   

It would have been so much worse (offensive) if the BADNEWS was that "so everyone will now have to be careful of allergens for that one kid". Kwim?

[Macabre]

I did nit catch the "bad news" bit. Ugh!  Wow. That's awful.