I'm the mother of the child in the Gloucester food allergy case. Yesterday I happened to go to the web site Wrightslaw.com.and started reading the article "When a School Refuses to Protect a Child with Life-threatening Allergies." I burst into tears when I realized it was about my daughter. I had no idea her case was being used to help others. My tears were both of relief, for the validation Wrightslaw gave me for the actions we took, and of pain, from the memory of all we went through for the year it took to settle her case.
My discovery was pure chance. I'm a member of FARE, and I read in their newsletter that Pete Wright did a presentation on food allergies in June at their annual conference, so I went to his web site to see what information he had. I couldn't believe that the second article from the top of all the links on the Allergies/Anaphylaxis page was about my daughter! I didn't know anybody outside of Gloucester had heard of her case. I found your web site through a link in the first comment on that article.
It was written by Pam Wright in 2008, the year after the case was settled. I filed the complaint when my daughter was in kindergarten. The school nurse and her teachers were wonderfully supportive, but their hands were tied by the administration. My daughter is now 14, has always been out-going, intelligent, and athletic (according to her proud parents!), and still has life-threatening food allergies and a 504 Plan. We still live in Gloucester, and she is about to enter high school. She is now her own advocate for her food allergies, but does not like being singled-out for them. Most everyone along the way (with the exception of one middle school nurse) has been helpful about her food allergies without excluding her. I'm crying again as I type this. Thank you for all who left positive comments.