No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

[Leo Lakio]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

Exactly - there is a "dust" from peanuts that can be inhaled; in fact, this dust can cling to other foods and be ingested in that fashion.

Giving this more thought - I don't know if the peanut "dust" issue is relevant in the case of peanut butter...

[alohabear]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

True there are kids with milk allergies but as far as I know, the milk actually has to be consumed by the allergic person in order to trigger the allergy. milk particles in the air or just touching an object that has been touched by milk doesn't cause a reaction the way that it does for peanuts for really allergic people.

eta: Oops, don't mean to be repetitive. You guys post fast

This ban has stopped class birthday celebrations , halloween, easter,and valentine candy.....back in the day the poor chocolate and milk allergy kids just went without....now ALL kids go without.....Auwe!

[pzarquon]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

This ban has stopped class birthday celebrations , halloween, easter,and valentine candy.....back in the day the poor chocolate and milk allergy kids just went without....now ALL kids go without.....Auwe!

Wow. I don't know where you live, but I'm glad I've yet to see a Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day, or other classroom event with children where candy and chocolate are banned outright because of milk allergies. My kids still come home with chocolate goodies now and then, much to my wife's chagrin. I figured most schools work well with any kids with milk/chocolate sensitivities (and their parents) and everything's managed in a reasonable way. If the kid can't have milk or chocolate, he'll get a juice box or a Jolly Rancher.

Peanut allergies are a whole 'nother ball of wax, given the severity of the reaction, so erring on the side of caution -- specifically when it's known there's a student in the class with such an allergy -- makes sense to me.

[alohabear]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

They are being banned due to PEANUTs ....SAD

[craigwatanabe]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

I still think it's nuts(no pun intended). More students have a milk allergy in the schools ,but you don't see the DOE banning milk...do you? These kids just don't eat anything with milk. The Cafeteria (where I work as a manager) receives a lot of special diet requests , but to BAN a everyday food ,that has been a staple in kids lunch boxes for years, is going too far.

Unless it's your kid who could die because some parent didn't care about another child's safety.

[alohabear]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

Unless it's your kid who could die because some parent didn't care about another child's safety.

So... you would support a total ban of all cotton products in your child's school if the lint or dust from them could kill my child? Or would you say Alohabear's Kid should stay home where it's safe .

[Pomai]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

Imagine the reaction - especially in Hawaii - if they banned Soy Sauce from local schools due to an autopsy that a child died from an allergic soy reaction...

Parent reading school policy:
"No peanuts for my kid? No problem... and what? no Shoyu for his rice? Are they nuts!"

Yeah, and on my next trip to Maui I'll be eager to remove my leather-soled shoes for the TSA inspectors. Thanks, guy.

[pzarquon]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

They are being banned due to PEANUTs ....SAD

Wait. At all schools? At several schools? Or at this school, or in specific schools or classrooms where there is a student with a peanut allergy? Again, I don't see birthday parties, Halloween parties, or Valentine's Day candy exchanges being indiscriminately forced out of all schools because of the spectre of peanut dust. I see a specific decision made in a specific case that seems like a reasonable application of the question, "Is this policy adjustment worth the life saved?"

I don't know about you, but if a classmate of my daughter had a peanut allergy and we were asked to not send peanut butter with her onto campus, I'd be happy to oblige. She can have all the peanut butter she wants at home.

Will the dangers of peanut dust to those allergic eventually lead to more broad bans on certain foods in schools? Possibly. But accommodating kids with serious allergies doesn't seem so "sad" or "ridiculous" to me. We make elaborate changes to accomodate the handicapped, and that similarly seems reasonable to me. Sure it'd be easier to just tell a kid with an allergy or in a wheelchair, "Just stay home where it's safer." But the right way or at least the American way (insofar as the principle of public education is concerned) isn't always the easier way.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: No Peanut Butter at a Grammar School ??

So... you would support a total ban of all cotton products in your child's school if the lint or dust from them could kill my child? Or would you say Alohabear's Kid should stay home where it's safe .

If that's what it would take, sure. I think the life of a child is worth some inconvenience on my part. As for your kid that's your call

Yes we can decide ourselves but we have to live by the consequences of those that we choose.