Friday’s Food for Thought post should really be called, Friday’s shock at humanity. CBS New York posted a story, “L.I. Girls Parents Told Teachers Have Right to Eat Nuts in Classroom.” Alrighty. You know where I am going with this headline! The local teacher’s union is refusing to require teachers to follow a child with a nut allergy’s accomodations. The teachers want to eat nut products in common areas, such as the music and art rooms. What’s wrong with this picture:
- On what grounds does a union believe they are above the law and the American With Disabilities Act (I am making the assumption that the child has a 504 plan? The article refers to accommodations.
- When I read the headline, I thought the teachers wanted to eat nuts at lunch. I can understand. BUT…in common areas is simply not safe or logical.
- Side note: My daughter’s 504 plan was updated to include a common room after she spent an entire period staring at an open jar of Nutella. Her principal was upset that the educational process was interrupted due to a teacher eating outside of lunch time and not following my daughter’s 504 plan.
- An un-named man stated in the article, “The child needs to live in this world, and this world is not nut free.” True statement. He unfortunately did not take into account the student’s age (5 yrs). Knives are in this world and are in every kitchen. We keep these away from children until they are age appropriate to manage knives.
- Where is the humanity and compassion? Look back at the Sandy Hook tragedy and how teachers and administrators gave their lives to save children. Teachers are important people who enter into the profession to change our world for the better.
Big Concerns. What concerns me with this situation is that the teacher’s union might set a dangerous precedent. A student in my local support group experienced two anaphylatic reactions in class, both times after his peanut eating teacher returned graded papers. The peanut dust from her hands caused an allergic reaction. I’m also concerned that teacher unions in general are might create harmful situations by resisting epinephrine law (think to the recent challenges from the California teacher’s unions and stock epinephrine legislation) and not following safety policy or accommodations in regards to life threatening food allergies.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Spot on! Thanks Caroline!
Thanks Sharon!
You are spot on with your position. The whole story was so disturbing to me…. Including the horrendous comments left by what seems like very uncivilized and uncaring people. Honestly, in a world where we see such atrocities happening all over, for American citizens to have such ego to think that our human rights extend to doing whatever the hell we want, whenever we want, whenever we want is just simply appalling. The person who left the comment calling a five year girl a “genetic defect” clearly has not an ounce of empathy or normal human instinct within them. I have a hard time understanding as well, how the teacher’s union asserts that the teacher is within her rights…there are rules and laws… Common ones that are in place for safety. There are behavioral expectations. I need someone to explain to me why life threatening food allergies seem to be such a divisive and unsympathetic DISEASE!!! Leper colonies were done away with a long long time ago. Why do people feel it is within their rights to degrade children and try to make them go away? Is a food more important than a child’s physical, emotional and psychological safety? This is a slippery slope and I hope that the US department of education finally steps up and steps in to stop the outright harassment of the LTFA community in US public schools.
Jessica, I think part of the challenge is this disease is on the rise, and people don’t know what roles to take, how to handle etc. Also, since the disease is invisible, our families look healthy and it’s hard to give accommodations to someone who looks like they don’t need it.
I also learned from Nona Narveaz of the Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association of MN to never take the comments seriously. The people who answer them will rant on about any story or person.
I think once we can educate decision makers better then we can come together – individually to find solutions for each child. One size fits all doesn’t work. As the disease grows, there will be no choice for but for schools to establish more thought out policy.
We have our work cut out for us!
Well said!
Trish,
I like Judie’s comment on Facebook too!
I’m so glad there are other advocates out there on the children’s side that are either well educated in the allergy world or just a simple minded human. It’s hard enough to explain to my daughter that she can’t have certain foods that other people eat all day, everyday, and if eaten death could be the result. I guess that’s very hard to explain to the leaders of a tax payers funded union. My daughter was teased last year by a couple of boys who put peanut butter sandwiches in her face & said look your favorite food & laughed. I just hope there are more seminars brought into classrooms and teachers workshops to educate on the severity of all types of allergies that children have and how to prevent a reaction from certain foods. It would help teachers & children that don’t have food allergies understand how serious it is. It would also be great if there was an epi pen in each classroom where needed in case of an emergency to help any child who incurs a reaction from their allergy. But for the most part, most teachers and parents are more than accommodating to except the conditions of children who have food allergies. The more education we receive, the safer it will be.
Thank you.