Hi everyone! I am new..I found this site in my research for peanut allergies and schools.
My son is in Kindergarten and has a peanut allergy.
He has been in schools that were peanut free since he was 2.5 but this is our first public school experience with him.I apologize if I ramble, but I am so worked up that I am thrilled to find a place where people understand what we are going through.
To start, I called the school nurse in the summer to discuss my son's allergy. I had filled out all the appropriate paperwork, and explained to me that she would talk to the teacher all about the allergy, that it wasn't the first one they had, and that I would need to supply snacks for my son to eat for special days. She would make sure teacher would share that there was an allergy at Back to School night. OK, I felt a little better when I talked to her...Fast forward...Back to School Night comes, there was no mention of the allergy in regards to snack...color snack letter came home for us to sign up for snack and again, no mention of an allergy. So, I was concerned but before school began, I had signed the paper that he was to have no food unless I sent it in, so I wasn't worried. UNTIL...my son came home excited about a snack his teacher had given him. chocolate covered something... I again emailed the teacher and explained that I had signed a paper that no snack was to be given unless I sent it,etc and her response was... I didn't know about the allergy, that the nurse never told her. WHAT??? She lied to the principal that she didn't give him the snack but apologized to my husband for giving it to my son. The principal had the nerve to tell me that my son was never in danger. I explained to him how my son had a reaction not 3 weeks ago before school began...in detail. After this, the halftruths and lack of communication began. I have requested a meeting several times and told it was unnecessary. The nurse emailed me to tell me she was qualified to do her job...?
Anyway, after several emails and phone calls, I was able to get notification sent home and the classroom as peanut free. Today, my husband went to drop off this weeks color snack (it is ridiculous how much food this class consumes) .When he went in, he noticed there was nothing outside saying the class was peanut free. The "sign" was posted low and covered up by something inside the class. He mentioned it at the end of the day to the teacher and the teacher was absolutely nasty saying that she was only told that she had to post the sign and until the main office told her otherwise, she wasn't moving it. She also said that she was unclear on how she was supposed to handle my son's allergy and that she didn't understand what the big deal was...Oh, this is a A " veteran" teacher When my husband said that she was singling our son out, she nastily replied that we were the ones labelling him and drawing attention to it. Don't forget this women fed my kid chocolate..which could have had traces of peanuts. And still we remained calm. Finally today was the last straw...my husband spoke to the principal (interim) and he was wishy washy about it and said that they can't guarantee a peanut free environment and they don't know why we are making a big deal cause next year we won't get peanut free anything. ((Not if I have anything to say!!!!)) Our allergist is shocked...said that they should provide an allergen free environment with no homemade snacks.He said as long as there is a peanut free zone that is properly maintained, that should be ok but a peanut free school would be ideal. He said that has not been done anywhere in our area. I am not looking for peanut free...but allergy aware would be nice. I have educated my son on safety when it comes to food. The lack of knowledge is just unacceptable. We have requested the allergy policy 4 times and received nothing. We feel very discouraged...I am thinking that especially since this is just an interim principal (the other one is on maternity leave) that I need to pursue a 504 so that there are clearly outlined steps and procedures that must be followed and that I can hold them to a level of accountability that they just don't seem to have now. I would appreciate any advice...this has just been a rocky road.