I have a friend who has been sharing experiences of sending her first child to Kindergarten. To me, her school district is unbelievable. $500 to register her kindergartener, $4.00 daily for lunch (IF they want milk), and now she tells me that they are never allowed to pack peanut butter or nuts (OR a whole slew of other foods) in their kid’s lunches because teachers are not allowed to help children having an allergic reaction with their epi-pens due to liability. Does this make anyone else clutch their heads and run screaming into the street? (Ok, ok. I’ll also take the emotions “frustrated or annoyed” if you’re less of a drama-hag.)
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What the freak is this world coming to? How can kids NOT be allowed to pack PB?!!!! I’m so sick of people being scared of being sued! I’ll run through the street with you.
my sons school is peanut free, they have requested that when we bring snacks to class that we not bring any peanut products. I have yet to inquire if that means no PB&J.
The no PB is sad, but what concerns me is that the world is so worried about liability and lawsuits that teachers can’t help a child in distress. That’s awful.
Does this school also require every kid to wear a helmet and take a Ritalin every day?
Rachel-I know. Seriously. All I could think of is my friend whose kid would ONLY eat that for an entire year or starve.
Apples-I don’t have a problem with snacks brought for the whole class to consume. Nut allergies are deadly and sometimes kids with them don’t know or there isn’t good communication and death can happen. But to say that PBJ isn’t allowed on campus for your allergy free kid to have for their lunch? DUDE.
Jill-I KNOW. Every single teacher I know WOULD DO IT ANYWAY, but it pisses me off that this is an expectation.
Craig-Probably.
Don’t you think the parents would sue BECAUSE no one tried to help? What the crap is wrong with people?? I swear I am moving to Mozambique…they have a Target there right??
Probably. They seem to have one EVERYWHERE THE FREAK BUT LOGAN, UTAH!!!!
Grumble, grumble, grumble…
While the registration expenses did floor me (it’s my kindergartner we’re talking about here), I completely understand the no peanut-butter rule.
I know a family who has had to home-school their child because their school wouldn’t become peanut-free. The school in question did offer a peanut-free table for lunch, but that didn’t refrain little peanut butter covered hands (even a smidge) from touching the same things like tetherballs, doorhandles, etc that the kid with allergies touched. In the first week of school, this child had three allergic and life-threatening episodes requiring medical intervention.
Some kids, like the one I know have life-threatening reactions even to miniscule contact, and in todays’over-crowded schools a teacher or adult just can’t be hovering over every child, not is there always time to get an epi-pen, or the like, when a situation calls for one.
Yes, I miss the care-free days of peanut-butter and jelly sandwich bliss, but I wouldn’t risk another child’s life so mine can have comfort food, and all kids are entitled to a public education.
I think the problem ultimately lies in lack of funding. Unlike when we were growing up (I’m in my 30′s), schools can no longer afford to each staff a nurse who is trained to take care of medical emergencies–for that matter schools can’t even afford full time-librarians, music teachers, etc. And while every teacher I’ve ever asked said they would in a heartbeat help a child in such a situation, all said it was against their school rules, and they would be jeopardizing their careers, AND that with so many children to oversee, they would not want that accountibility, and prefer to have a peanut-free school, to remove the risk of harm from any child.
that is so unfair! makes me glad when i was in high school. teachers weren’t supposed to help with stuff like that either, just like no prayer in schools, but they did it anyway. heck, a majority of the teachers were older than the school anyway.
$4 for school lunches? what are they getting? 5 star restaurant food?