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I saw this news story on t.v. Although I feel empathy for the child with the allergy, I don't think it's right to impose out of the ordinary practices on the fellow classmates. My understanding of the story was that just her classmates were subject to the special extra cleansing, that shows that this is not a normal school practice. It is unfortunate that the child has such a severe and possibly fatal allergy, but there are no guarantees even with all the preventive cleansing that she wouldn't be exposed. If that were my child I wouldn't take the chance, I would homeschool them and get them involved in social activities where they can be closely supervised and maybe even with children that have the same allergy. Just my thoughts on the matter.
So you'd wrap them in cotton wool and let the allergy run their lives.
I am sure that the parents understand there are no guarantees, and that the school know to administer epinephrine in the case of a severe reaction, which we don't know the likelihood of anyway.
I don't think it's extra special hand cleansing- just cleansing instead of not.
Again -if parents don't teach kids to wash hands then maybe the school should be.
What about protecting from normal viruses and bacteria-is handwashing twice during the school day not good everyday practice? It should be.
* All students must wash their hands and wipe around their mouths before stepping into a classroom.
* Desks must be wiped down regularly with Clorox wipes.
* No snacks are allowed in classrooms.
* No food allowed at holiday parties.
* A peanut-sniffing dog has been walked through the school, to confirm that everyone in the school is following the rules.
We were discussing costs earlier. Who pays for the Chlorox wipes? Who pays for the dog?
Are you kidding me about no snacks? No food at parties??? That's absurd! The kids are 6 years old. Again, if I were a parent of one of these other kids, I'd be angry and frustrated.
Also, I'm not opposed to the extra hand washing, but when 20+ six year olds have to go to the bathroom one or two at a time to wash their hands twice a day, it's time consuming. The teachers are spending an extra 30 minutes (according to parents) out of their scheduled curriculum to do this.
I'm sorry. I think the whole thing is overkill. It's ridiculous.
A student at Edgewater Elementary School in Volusia County, Florida is being asked to withdraw from the school by her classmates' parents. They have been protesting the school imposing time consuming procedures on their children due to the needs of one student in the classroom.
The student has a life-threatening peanut allergy and, as a result, her classmates are asked to make accommodations to ensure her safety. Some parents of children at the school say the extra steps their children are taking to ensure the girl's health, such as washing their hands or rinsing out their mouths, are taking away from their own children's learning time by several hours a week. Meanwhile, the school is standing by its decision to make accommodations for the student.
What do you think about the school's and parents' stances?
I don't see anything wrong with this. People need to quit whining and be thankful it's not their kid with that kind of terrible allergy. Good for the school for standing by its decision. How does it take away "hours" from the learning time, when they do it before or after class? It dosen't. If parents do have a problem with this, then approach it in a different way and not like an idiot... indirectly bashing that poor child.
I don't see anything wrong with this. People need to quit whining and be thankful it's not their kid with that kind of terrible allergy. Good for the school for standing by its decision. How does it take away "hours" from the learning time, when they do it before or after class? It dosen't. If parents do have a problem with this, then approach it in a different way and not like an idiot... indirectly bashing that poor child.
You obviously didn't read my post or the article attached.
The school doesn't have a choice. This girl is a walking catastrophe - a lawsuit waiting to happen. The school has to protect itself. That's common sense.
Schools across the country currently make all kinds of accomodations for students. This is just one example. They also reduce the work load, have cooling off time, have full-time aides for some students, special large print books, etc. etc. etc. While we all understand and sympathize with the students and their parents, aren't these children in for a shock when they hit the real world? I don't know a job that will make accomodations to its employees, do you? These accomodations are one reason the public school systems across the country are broke.
The first bolded. While I don't necessarily agree with the whole thing the reality in today's schools are, due to various federal laws passed over the last three or four decades, that schools are required (note the word required) to make accomodations to educate all students, including this student who no doubt has a 504 Plan for allergies. This would detail the established allergies and the medications, treatments (these would be from a Dr.) and accomodations to be implemented. Those would be developed by the school in concert with the parents.
A note on 504 Plans: I have 9 students in one class whose Plans require they sit in the front seat of the row for various reasons (eyesight, hearing, ADD and 4 for behavior management). I only have 6 rows of seats. This includes the blind student. One student is required to have a minimum 6 feet clearance on all sides from other students. Has a "touching" problem. These are 9th graders. Smallest classroom in the building, 35 students and an aide for the blind student.
The second bold: the trail mix situation happened to my oldest daughter on a field trip in 5th grade. The VP that went along got her some Benadryl and all was well.
I know things are the way you describe. I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or not, but my point is that I feel we are going overboard and your classroom sounds like a very good example of this.
I'm all for reasonable accommodations. I don't have a problem with banning peanut containing products in and of itself. My concern is when does reasonable become outrageous? If we start adding more precautions, when does it stop? Washing the childrens' hands, inconvenient, but I wouldn't complain. Add in rinsing out mouths after meals, I'd be requesting my child to be put into a different class. Now add peanut sniffing dogs, sorry, that's outrageous.
Are we going to do this for everything that causes a reaction? Strawberries, shellfish, pollen?
For extreme cases like this, don't schools districts still use their own homeschooling, where there are specific teachers in the school district that come to the child's home to teach the subjects? It doesn't cost the parent anything. I knew several children who used this service due to being immunocompromised from chemo, steroids, and one case of SCID.
Iv' mentioned this already because I also know of children that have had to do this. I the parents of this student are being selfish and this option would be a good one to consider.
I know things are the way you describe. I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or not, but my point is that I feel we are going overboard and your classroom sounds like a very good example of this.
Not agreeing or disagreeing, really. Just reinforcing. A lot of folks that post in this forum are clueless about why schools take the measures they do in various situations, whether it's accomodations for special needs (which cover a huge area) or discipline (zero tolerance is an example).
So you'd wrap them in cotton wool and let the allergy run their lives.
I am sure that the parents understand there are no guarantees, and that the school know to administer epinephrine in the case of a severe reaction, which we don't know the likelihood of anyway.
I don't think it's extra special hand cleansing- just cleansing instead of not.
Again -if parents don't teach kids to wash hands then maybe the school should be.
What about protecting from normal viruses and bacteria-is handwashing twice during the school day not good everyday practice? It should be.
I respect your view on the matter and can understand your point, however, I don't think that the allergy should run anyones life including the fellow students who attend the school with the Child that has the allergy.
The reason the parents are protesting against the situation is because their childrens class is being singled out of an entire school and asked to take precautions for 1 student, where do you draw the line. Then we start getting into each individual need of each child, learning isssues and other health needs. Some times the parents just need to take responsibility for their own child. That is just my outlook and I don't expect anyone to agree.
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Good for the school for standing by its decision. How does it take away "hours" from the learning time, when they do it before or after class? It dosen't. If parents do have a problem with this, then approach it in a different way and not like an idiot... indirectly bashing that poor child.
