Banning dairy and eggs at school??

[goofyintoronto]

Just saw this on the news. A mother has filed a complaint with the human rights Tribunal against her daughters school claiming discrimination over the way they handled the girls serious egg and dairy allergies. As stated in the article, I doubt they could outright ban eggs and dairy. That wouldn't be fair to the other kids. Plus where would it stop? Will they move to ban wheat allergies? Its a tough call. there has to be a middle ground. Although it looks as though the school already trIed to work with mom.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...man-rights-complaint-against-school-1.2496310

 

[usnuzuloose]

These parent's need to understand that the girl is going to have to learn to deal with all of this in life. I am wondering what made her have 9 attacks? Some thing seems a little off to me.

 

[DebbieB]

My nephew has had a dairy allergy since he was a baby. He is now a freshman in college, he learned to manage it. When he was at my house Christmas Eve, he asked to see the package for the corn I put out on the table, he wanted to be sure it wasn't buttered.

 

[usnuzuloose]

My nephew has had a dairy allergy since he was a baby. He is now a freshman in college, he learned to manage it. When he was at my house Christmas Eve, he asked to see the package for the corn I put out on the table, he wanted to be sure it wasn't buttered.

I understand about the peanut issue as the dust from them they breath it in. But how would she have an attack? Is it by touching it? Or only eating it?

 

[cjbcam]

It would really suck to have a child with allergies but teaching the child to live with the allergy instead of making everyone accommodate her seems more logical. The only thing the school should do is have a hand washing and table washing after they eat policy.

 

[goofyintoronto]

It would really suck to have a child with allergies but teaching the child to live with the allergy instead of making everyone accommodate her seems more logical. The only thing the school should do is have a hand washing and table washing after they eat policy.

From what i understand thou, the problem lies WHILE they are eating. kids touch dairy, then they touch the surfaces around them which is the problem for the little girl. thats what the article said anyway.

They should have a separate lunch room from the class. Maybe the class could eat in the gym. That way the surfaces in class wont be contaminated.

Not sure what outcome the mom is hoping for by going to Human Rights?

 

[kamik86]

The best thing I think they could do for this girl is to have her have a seperate lunch area. Having the whole class eat in the gym wouldn't work as its very unfair to the rest of her class both because would they not be able to have eggs and dairy? Also they wouldn't be able to eat with friends in other classes.

When I was in school we had a severely ADHD student that although he could handle a classroom ok had a hard time with all the noise and movement at lunch. He couldn't eat with everyone or he would fly off the handle or just be so busy with everything else he wouldn't eat.

So they had him in another room and each day he could choose one person to eat with him (and that person must agree to it). Alot of us liked it becasue he was fun to talk to if he wasn't in too big of a group and to miss the craziness of the lunch line he and his friend got to leave a few min early and get lunch first, so more time for recess!

For this girl it would be similar. The friend would have to have a dairy and egg free lunch (either from home or getting at school) but otherwise it would work very similarly.

 

[cabanafrau]

I guess maybe I need to learn some more here or the mom is being unreasonable -- possibly understandably if her kid has had nine anaphylactic episodes. I was under the impression that egg and dairy were ingestion exposure allergies, not contact or inhalation like legumes can be?

I'd imagine cross contamination might be an exposure risk, but with good measures put into place in the kitchen or mom sending lunch from home it seems that would be manageable. Of course the little girl has to be taught not to eat unless it's from an approved source, but she's going to have to learn how to manage her allergies in her day to day life anyway, so that's not solely a school issue.

Am I wrong about the exposure necessary on the egg and dairy, anybody know more about this?

 

[Lolsmum]

I honestly don't know how one can create a dairy and egg free environment for that many children, especially if one also has to eliminate peanuts, shellfish, wheat and anything else a child could be severely allergic to.

At 6, there are many kids who would pretty much go without eating lunch at that point. I have no idea what I would feed my daughter if dairy and eggs were out completely. My son would have some options, but my daughter would be hard.

 

[wiigirl]

These parent's need to understand that the girl is going to have to learn to deal with all of this in life. I am wondering what made her have 9 attacks? Some thing seems a little off to me.

Me too....

 

[Annadesu]

If she's that severely allergic to something, there's not really a 100% allergy free way to serve her food with other children around. I have a nut allergy myself, and sometimes it just happens no matter what you do. They would have to give her her own small table (or put something on top of the table for her), and guard it from the other children. Or just separate her completely. I feel for her, and her parents, but you can't completely change the dining program for one child, and there's always a risk of cross contamination.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

So this mother wants eggs and dairy removed from the school. There is a good chance tree nuts are already banned (it's getting more and more common). That severely limits what the rest of the kids can eat for lunch. There are options, but not a lot that are kid friendly. So 99% of the kids who don't have allergies have to have their lunch choices restricted because 1% have an allergy. That makes tons of sense. :rollseyes

 

[Mrs.Malone]

I see the mother's point when she complains of this:

If a child showed up with a peanut butter sandwich, they wouldnt be allowed to sit in the classroom and eat it. If somebody showed up to Elodies classroom with a cheese sandwich, then they just sat at their desk and ate it.

Why should one life threatening allergen be treated more seriously than another? Eggs, dairy, wheat, and corn for that matter: all can cause life threatening contact or inhalation reactions in rare cases, like this child.
I don't see how it's fair to ban peanuts and not other allergens if you have someone who's just as allergic to something as some kids are to peanuts.

That said, I don't think it's realistic to ban milk and dairy from school. I don't know how this type of disability can be properly accommodated in a normal school environment.

 

[Gracie09]

I see the mother's point when she complains of this: If a child showed up with a peanut butter sandwich, they wouldnt be allowed to sit in the classroom and eat it. If somebody showed up to Elodies classroom with a cheese sandwich, then they just sat at their desk and ate it. Why should one life threatening allergen be treated more seriously than another? Eggs, dairy, wheat, and corn for that matter: all can cause life threatening contact or inhalation reactions in rare cases, like this child. I don't see how it's fair to ban peanuts and not other allergens if you have someone who's just as allergic to something as some kids are to peanuts. That said, I don't think it's realistic to ban milk and dairy from school. I don't know how this type of disability can be properly accommodated in a normal school environment.

They are two different types of food. Peanut butter is creamy and gets on fingers and can easily be transferred to other surfaces. A cheese slice is not likely to get on fingers and transferred to other surfaces. So unless someone was eating pub cheese or the like on a sandwich I don't think it's analogous

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

They are two different types of food. Peanut butter is creamy and gets on fingers and can easily be transferred to other surfaces. A cheese slice is not likely to get on fingers and transferred to other surfaces. So unless someone was eating pub cheese or the like on a sandwich I don't think it's analogous

What about yogurt? Or chocolate? Both are common in kid's lunches, and could easily get on a child's hand or a table and get spread all over the place.

 

[Gracie09]

What about yogurt? Or chocolate? Both are common in kid's lunches, and could easily get on a child's hand or a table and get spread all over the place.

Right but the complaint the mother cites was specifically a cheese sandwich. Not yogurt or chocolate.
My daughters go to a school where there are multiple allergies in their classes. They are four. So younger than this child. We are allowed to send whatever we want in for snack even if there is a child in the class with an allergy to it. They seat the kids at different tables based in part of the contents of he snack. The children with the allergies know what they can and can't have or touch and the kids are not allowed to share snack. If four year olds, many with special needs can handle this, I think six year olds can.

 

[barkley]

at ds's school (and the associated elementary and middle schools) they do a completely nut-free hot lunch program. there are nut free zones in the cafeteria so any student with an allergy can opt to just eat at those tables. nut products are not outright banned-but if an individual student has an allergy their classroom(s) for that school year are deemed nut free zones (but the kids aren't supposed to be eating in the classroom as it is-but they do it for safety's sake). they take it a step further-any group treats sent in have to be purchased at the store, and the local stores get an updated list w/individual teacher's names and allergy issues (so if your kid is in mrs. smith's class and you go to order cupcakes they check the list to see if anyone in mrs. smith's class has a nut/gluten/dairy allergy and make the cupcakes accordingly)-there's a big sign in the bakery department that reminds parents of this. I will also note that the lunch menu also indicates which days pork products are served, in large part due to the religious beliefs of some of the students, in part due to some concerns re. migraines.

I cannot see a school cafeteria doing a totally dairy free menu. I suspect it would be cost prohibitive (my kids went to a private school that offered only vegetarian or vegan dining options, the cost to do comparable dairy free (vegan) food items drove the overall food costs up substantially. I can see a school making a classroom dairy free, I can see them doing a dairy free zone in the cafeteria. both are easy enough to reasonably accommodate.


I notice that the school in question is a religious school outside the u.s.-i don't know how religious schools work there, but in our experience w/ them in the u.s. they are not bound to the same legal requirements as publicly funded schools so some make no accommodations, some hold themselves to the same standard required as public schools, and some exceed. I would be interested to know how it works in other countries.

 

[Kogo Shuko]

This is a frustrating predicament.

Schools simply cannot ban all foods that someone might be allergic to. If they did, there'd be nothing to eat.

My brother has allergies. Growing up, he was allergic to salmon, tuna.. and ALL FORMS of poultry. This includes turkey, chicken, duck... if it's a bird, he can't eat it (perfectly find with eggs though). What if my mother had put up a fight while he was in school and demanded they ban all forms of poultry in the school. DO you think that would even be possible?

Take a hotdog for example. Many hotdogs actually have chicken in it, and it would make my brother sick. The same can be said for gravies, as many of them are often chicken based. To this day I can bite into a hotdog and tell you if there is chicken in it. I grew up knowing the difference because my brother HAD to know the difference.

The only time an organization went out of their way to ensure that there was no chicken at a group meal was when my brother first joined cadets. When my mother made a note that my brother had an allergy but was smart enough to know to keep away from certain foods, the officers seriously contemplated the issue and without any prompting from my family switched their hotdog choice from generic hotdogs to All-Beef labelled hotdogs for their barbeques. But other than that, they certainly didn't refrain from having food with chicken in it. They just always made sure there was something my brother could eat (which was often a vegetarian option to keep others happy as well).

I think the banning of foods is getting dangerously over the top.

Perhaps it's because I grew up with a brother who was smart enough to know he shouldn't be eating someone else's food. Or maybe I'll just cold hearted.

Either way... =/

 

[tigercat]

My 2 granddaughters have dairy allergies. The oldest is almost 8 and she know what she can and can't have. If the person is not sure if there is any dairy in it or just "thinks" that there isn't any in something than she does without. She doesn't get upset just politely says no thanks. If my daughter knows that something is going to be given out at school (and they usually let her know) she will send her in with an approved treat. The youngest one who is 3 knows that if you tell her not to eat something because it has dairy in it she is okay with it. Hopefully she will be as good as her sister when she goes to school next Sept.
tigercat

 

[tvguy]

we had an intern last year in the newsroom who had severe allergies to eggs, dairy and bananas.
She told us she had no problem going out with news crews on fires or toxic chemical incidents, but when we did a story on a restaurant that is known for their great breakfasts, she had to pass because just the smell of eggs would make her sick, and eating eggs, bananas or dairy would kill her.
I have never seen her eat, not sure what she eats. She said she tried eating vegetarian, but found she was allergic to one or another common ingredient in vegetarian food.