A kindergarten student at Ocean Palms Elementary in Ponte Vedra has a peanut allergy that has forced the student's classroom to become a peanut-free zone. WJXT-TV image.
Posted on 09/25/2007 7:15:42 AM PDT by Cagey
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. -- Some young St. Johns County students are no longer allowed to bring a popular lunchtime food to school. Peanut butter has been banned.
A kindergarten student at Ocean Palms Elementary in Ponte Vedra has a peanut allergy that has forced the student's classroom to become a peanut-free zone, WJXT-TV reported.
Not all parents are happy with the changes in other students' diets and the inconvenience caused by the peanut ban.
Tracey Torres's son is 5 years old. She said one of his favorite lunchtime sandwiches is peanut butter and jelly, which is also one of Torres's favorites because it's quick, easy and nutritious.
"That's just a typical thing that a kid brings to school and it's something my son likes. It's quick and easy for me in the morning. To not be able to bring that and have to do something else is a burden on me in the morning," Torres said.
She said the peanut-free classroom has been a burden on her in the morning since his kindergarten class at Ocean Palms went peanut free because another student is allergic to peanuts.
When the peanut allergy issue first came up, school officials tried to separate kids with nuts from kids without by sitting them at a different table in school but the close scrutiny was too much work.
"Too much work … and the students weren't always able to eat lunch," said Ocean Palms Elementary Michael Parrish.
Under the new peanut ban, students area able to eat lunch but just not peanuts.
Torres said she thinks it's unfair for kids to suffer because of one student's allergy.
"The burden should be placed back on the parent of that child, and their only responsibility should be to create an awareness with the other parents and children," Torres said.
However, Parrish said awareness isn't enough when dealing with a life-threatening allergy.
The principal said the school is working on a more permanent solution. He said they would probably end up with a peanut-free table in the cafeteria and another table that allows peanuts.
A kindergarten student at Ocean Palms Elementary in Ponte Vedra has a peanut allergy that has forced the student's classroom to become a peanut-free zone. WJXT-TV image.
I’ll bet that school is a “common sense free zone!”
Liberalism: Someone craps their pants,
and we all have to wear diapers.
(Except for the “liberal elites”, of course)
When did kids begin to be allergic to peanut butter? Apparently there is some kind of pandemic peanut butter allergy going around. And it has condemned us to pretzels on airplanes. Yet when I was a child in elementary school and high school, I don’t remember ANYONE ever being allergic to peanut butter. Does anyone know of any studies showing what has caused this?
How come there where no peanut allergies 15 years ago.
What have we birthed a bunch of anti-peanut mutants?
I believe this pandemic started during the Jimmy Carter years.
Geez, if my kids was deathly allergic to something like that, I would homeschool them.
But I suspect this is more of a control issue.
How come there where no peanut allergies 15 years ago.
What have we birthed a bunch of anti-peanut mutants?
How come there where no peanut allergies 15 years ago.
What have we birthed a bunch of anti-peanut mutants?
I can hardly wait for the wise-cracks on this one...
How come there where no peanut allergies 15 years ago.
What have we birthed a bunch of anti-peanut mutants?
The part that angered me was if a child brought a PB&J sandwich that child had to wear a peanut tag & sit at another table. Had my child been that allergic I would have wanted them to be in the nurse’s office or somewhere far away from kids eating PB&J sandwiches. I don’t think it was fair to the other children to be tagged with the peanut. I don’t know how the school is handling it this year. The plain fact is many children love them & its a cheaper lunch for many families.
Oh *THANK YOU* pinhead administrators for your clemency. Will the students be allowed to ingest water or beverages also, or does that require another royal decree?
Well, peanut allergies certainly are not a new thing. I have a 50-something uncle who is allergic to them. Also, I had a few friends 15 years ago, when I was in middle school, and even before that when I was in elementary school, who had pretty severe peanut allergies.
The simple solution was, they knew their allergy, and they used caution! We didn't have any ban on peanut butter in school.
Absolutely ridiculous.
I wouldn’t put that sign up if I were you. If you have a nut-free room you’ll get sued for discriminating against liberals.
Yes it was, the mother was really controlling and she made many parents angry. But her child was that allergic that she really had no choice. I think if my child was that allergic I would homeschool.
Peanut Allergy is DEADLY.....my friend’s son has one, so she sought out a PRIVATE SCHOOL that had a NO PEANUT RULE!! This is what this lady should do also.
If my kid is allergic to ugly girls, do all the ugly girls have to stay at home? What about allergic to bread, or carrots, or whatever? This is a crock of b.s. from the git go! Keep your allergic child at home or raise him in a bubble if it is that bad. What happened to common sense?
The funny thing is that Peanuts aren’t nuts. They are a legume. I’m shocked at the parents who claim their kids are allergic to all nuts.
We had a parent who brought in a laundry list of allergies. Her daughter would die instantly if she even saw any of the items. The school blew her off. Now her daughter is a teenager and is anorexic. Go figure.
Time for All parents at that school to send their kids to school with PB&J sandwiches with packages of salted peanuts for snacks.
This is a logical outcome of the disabilities act signed by Bush 1. Everyone else is inconvenienced to accomodate 1 person. Let the parents of that allergy prone kid make the accomodations. Don’t force everyone else to accomodate them.
The student who is unfit for school should be banned.
The part that angered me was if a child brought a PB&J sandwich that child had to wear a peanut tag & sit at another table.
Good God.
Two of my children are allergic to white chocolate. I never made a fuss over it. Just told them to stay away from it.
This irritates the heck out of me. I have a DH and daughter (now 49) who have severe peanut and tree nut allergies. THEY are the ones who watched over themselves! My daughter knew what to keep away from, in kindergarten and even before. I don’t think her teachers even knew she had allergies.
What is this kid going to do when he is outside the school and opens a door that (heaven help us) was touched by someone who had eaten peanuts. How about a restaurant? Nut free restaurants in the future? He is going to be in throngs all his life and he should be the one to watch out for himself.
I also have a Grandson who has this allergy and he has adapted easily. He knows about the Epi-pen and knows how to use it if need be. He has adjusted to the world — not the world to him!!
"Holy boys' table, Batman, where should I sit?" asked Robin in a plaintive wail
My daughter had a peanut allergy when she was younger. She couldn’t have peanuts that were baked in peanut oil...otherwise she was fine. She could eat peanut butter without having a reaction.
That said...I would not make an issue of it to get peanuts banned from the school...I would rather teach my kid to leave other kids’ food alone. It’s not hers, she isn’t to touch! (DUH)
My grandson cannot bring a snack to school that isn’t in the original wrapper. My daughter can’t just throw a bunch of cookies in a ziplock bag. He also isn’t permitted a certain kind of pretzel because they are manufactured in a place that also makes peanut snacks. At lunch he MAY bring a PB&J sandwich because the peanut allergy kids have their own table.
At the age of 6 he can tell you just which kids have allergies and what they are.
Most schools solve this by creating a peanut free area in the cafeteria. The kids who are allergic sit there, away from the others, so that the smell of the peanuts won’t cause any sort of allergic reaction.
There’s MA a kid who may or may not go to his city’s Middle School next year and he has a Latex Allergy. They are gutting the school all all Latex and Plastic.
My daughter can tell who has allergies too. I think the allergy children ought to have their own table away from the regular children but our school didn’t want those children singled out for some reason. I went through enough bs last year that I doubt I will ever be a class mother again. It was way easier with my now adult children. There weren’t as many rules or problems. If my husband would just agree I would gladly homeschool.
How ever will they perform the cucumber drill? What a conundrum for the liberal educator; which sacrament to omit?
Latex free conundrums are now available. Science!
You know who else liked a certain group of people to wear tags...
Nam Vet
A boy in my fifth grade class died from a peanut allergy. His father had eaten a handful of peanuts and forgotten to wash his hands. He touched his son, and his son later died because the peanut oil had been absorbed through his skin. There were plenty of peanut allergies 15 years ago, I don’t know why you weren’t aware of them.
We got a letter from our school on this same thing. The kids bring in a snack for a snack time each day and cant bring peanut butter crackers for it. Nothing with nuts.
My little girl loves apples and peanut butter, and peanut butter crackers and pb&j only now because of one child in her class the rest are not allowed to eat what they want. I resent having this imposed on me. It does inconvenience me and makes providing good snacks that she will eat more difficult.
Again ...we are back to the rights of one over the rights of many. Something is wrong with this picture.
Slip some peanut butter into his mashed potatoes. LOL
I'm still shaking my head at that school forcing kids to wear a tag if they are eating a PB&J sandwich. It really is nuts! No pun intended.
Similar to the Muslim woman feeling up a Catholic nun in the name of security, in the topsy-turvy world of the liberals inclusion means exclusion!
Peanut allegies are much more severe than other allergies, such as those of your children. There are some (not all) who are so allergic to peanuts that the smell or touch of anything with peanuts can cause a life threatening reaction. I don’t know the situation with this particular child, and I am aware that some parents tend to overreact. However, the woman who is whining about having to make her son something other than a peanut butter sandwich, because it is more work doesn’t get much sympathy from me. Nor do people who complain that their children must eat at a separate table because they brought peanut butter.
It would appear that Freepers need to do a little more research on peanut/nut allergies before jumping to conclusions.
I think some of these mothers have Muchousen (sic) Syndrome.
Just like a report said earlier there are many alergies which are more fad than fact.
I’d send the allergy kid home, permanently, before I’d ban peanut butter. Its his problem, not the rest of the student body’s.
I have two relatives who’s kids have bad allergies.
One brings her own meals for her kids to family events.
The other...publishes long lists of things her kids may not have under penalty of death and makes certain to loudly bring up her kids allergies to anyone within earshot. If they don’t react, she makes sure to be even louder. The amazing thing is that we’ve seen her kids eat forbidden foods on numerous occasion with no effects. I really believe that she has some Munchausens type thing going on where she literally gets off on the medical problems of her kids because she gets lots of attention. They spend so much time at the doctor that I’m certain they are making his monthly Porsche payment.
If the kids are that allergic, they need to be taught at home. It’s foolish to believe you can insulate your child from peanuts in a school environment.
My daughter won't eat anything peanut butter after hearing some of it comes from China. The rules now in NJ schools about snacks & lunches are silly. They will not allow sugar as the 1st ingredient in juice or a snack. It gets sent home to you. We can't have any fat children & this is going to be the answer. Somehow I don't see it as working...
In an earlier post you pointed out that a child died because his father had forgotten to wash his hands and the child was picked up by him later on. How would keeping children at a different table and wearing tags have prevented something similar from happening in the school playground?
If this allergy is that severe and dangerous how can a parent even expose them to school?
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