Posted on 01/04/2005 7:54:07 AM PST by TheBigB
YORKTOWN, Ind. — Savannah Dowling is a typical 8-year-old girl; much of her protein comes from peanut butter sandwiches.
However, if she wants to bring one to Central Indiana's Pleasant View Elementary School, she has to eat it at a special table in the cafeteria to accommodate one first grader with a severe allergy. Soon she'll have to take her lunch to an area the school is calling the "peanut gallery" so the one child with the peanut allergy isn't affected.
"I don't think everybody should have to suffer because of one kid," said Mike Raper, a critic of the idea and fiancé of Savannah's mother. "I think it's a terrible precedent. Basically, because there's nowhere to draw the line. You've got people allergic to milk, wheat. My own son's diabetic. There's just no where to draw that line."
School Superintendent Mary Ann Irwin called it "one of the most challenging" accommodations the school has made for its students.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
There was a school last year that had to remove all Latex from the premises in anticipation of a single student with a Latex allergy attending. All paint had to be removed as well as furniture and fixtures. It was still a few years away from when this student if, not would, be attending. My first reaction was that this was going to screw up the condom distribution plan.
When PB&Js are outlawed, only outlaws will have PB&Js
"But there should be a concerted effort to keep the allergic kids away from potential exposure."
Yeah. Isolate/insulate THEM.
Kids eating peanut butter is normal. If this allergic kid goes all thru skrewel without having to exercise prudence regarding peanut butter, WHAT WILL HE DO WHEN HE GRADUATES TO THE REAL WORLD?
It's a new phenomenon, probably something to do with taking the pill, global warming, and Bush.
The problem is that they're not trying to keep the allergic kid away...they're segregating the non-allergic peanutbutter eaters away.
Sounds like they should be doing the reverse.
Of course, this might hurt his "self esteem" and we can't have that (but to hell with the "self esteem" of the others).
Or perhaps many of them are fabricated. I know a family whose child is suddenly deathly allergic to peanuts and the other children must be controlled for her sake.
Odd she didn't have this deadly problem for 3 years.
"This is getting out of hand.. What next a meat free zone?"
If you had a child with a peanut allergy so severe he or she could die, you wouldn't consider this out of hand. The daughter of one of my friends has gone into immediate shock from the breath of somebody who had just eaten peanut butter.
I'm not sure that what the school has done is the best answer, but an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts is not a liberal PC thing; it's life and death.
I think the term was meant as in "suffer the consequences" of anothers misfortune, not suffer as in having your fingernails ripped off.
LOL! Well, they could always make an exception and go with the sheepskin ones for that school...
But that would offend the animal-rights crowd.
I'm allergic to garlic; I should request special accomodations.
...and I'm italian too!
Well, come on now...we all know its for the children!
This is not a special needs child. Every child is special, some need a little more help than others. And they are not more important. However they do deal with an abundance of extra circumstances that you or I would not give a second thought too. We need to give the real "Special Needs" kids a little help from time to time. They just want to be able to do most of what the other kids are doing. No need to drag everyone else down to do it. Just elevate.
Some just might learn something from these special kids also.
"Yes, but we must punish "normality" and coddle the fringe groups."
Sorry, but this kid isn't part of a fringe group. He or she (I'd don't remember which now) is part of a group that could drop dead from slight expsure to peanuts. Now, imagine this is YOUR child.
How do they plan to protect this child for day-to-day living?
Makes sense but I remember when I was in grade school. Packing a peanut butter sandwich was a special day as most days I ate the cafeteria servings. Being able to go sit in the "peanut gallery" would have made it double special! Only problem would be that "trades" would be severely down since everyone had the same thing.
It won't be long until a kid is suspended for leaving his sandwich unattended or waving it around.
All a parent needs to do now is cut the sandwich into the shape of a gun. It would become a weapon of mass destruction.
Good point.
I did say it was a tough one.
BTW... What's with the Peanut allergies? Has anyone else noticed that its becoming more and more common?
I NEVER heard of kids being allergic to peanuts when I was a kid.
"I'm allergic to garlic; I should request special accomodations."
Can slight exposure to garlic kill you in seconds? If so, you should definitely have special accomodations.
I agree, it is serious. However, measures should be taken to isolate the single allergic child, not the rest of the PB eating world.
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