Valley Parents Vocal on Allergy Policy
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Yet for at least one Valley student, peanut butter is one of the few foods she can eat because of her milk protein allergies.
At its July meeting, the board was presented with a food allergy policy. But instead of approving it last night, the board tabled the policy to gather more information and hear from concerned parents about the issue.
The four-page Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. food allergy guide will be posted on the district’s website. It includes the topics of identifying students with food allergies, individual written management plans, medication protocols, healthy school environments, emergency response and monitoring and evaluation, among others.
Lindsay Smith, who also works for TVSC, was the first parent to speak up about food allergies at Monday’s meeting. She said her middle daughter, Morgan, now a sixth-grader, has severe food allergies. They were so bad when Morgan was little that she ended up at Riley Hospital for Children.
It was discovered she had a protein allergy, and Smith said they went through a lot of “living and learning those first few years.” Besides milk products, she also has allergies to berries, wheat and possibly honey.
By the time her daughter entered school, Smith said she started packing her lunch.
“Very, very few things was she able to eat and we narrowed it down,” she said.
One of the few things that Smith and her husband discovered their daughter could eat was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now, as part of Valley’s food allergy policy, it wants to get rid of all peanut-based foods.
Smith described how Morgan’s kindergarten year went fine, but the head cook at Akron Elementary changed and the cook wasn’t willing to adjust Morgan’s food. For four out of five days, Morgan was given chicken nuggets. When Smith contacted the head cook, she found the cook wasn’t very willing to accommodate Morgan’s needs.
In third grade, unknown to Smith, Morgan wasn’t allowed to have juice instead of milk so she had to drink out of the water fountain every day.
Eventually, Morgan was back to sack lunches.
Peanut butter was the one saving grace for Morgan’s lunches, Smith said. Now, Valley wants to get rid of everything with peanuts because of other kids’ allergies.
Bryan Murphy, school board president, told Smith that he felt bad for her and that if she brought her food allergy concerns to the board they could have changed the policies earlier.
As the former principal of Akron Elementary when Morgan was there, Assistant Superintendent Blaine Conley said he felt bad for everything Morgan and her family had to go through and he didn’t know this went on then. He said they could have written out a food management plan for Morgan.
Now that she’s in middle school, Smith said her daughter is better now.
Later, Superintendent Brett Boggs told Smith that he was disappointed with the response she got from the head cook. “We accommodate a billion different things today, but we do it because that’s what we do,” he said. He also said any problems Smith had with the cafeteria should be brought to Principal Chrissy Mills’ attention.
Conley said 13 kids at Valley schools had food allergies last year.
Another unidentified mother spoke up and said no peanut butter at all seemed too drastic. She said Whitko Schools had a no peanut rule and they discovered it was a bad decision. Now kids can pack their own lunch and sit at their own table.
Murphy pointed out that there are schools like Triton and Laville that have had the “no peanut” rule for several years.
Another parent said her child can die from peanut allergies and she didn’t think peanut butter was more important than her child’s life. “My daughter is afraid to go to school because she’s afraid someone may give her peanut butter,” she said.
Parents spoke about how if a child eats peanut butter and doesn’t wash their hands, then touches a student with peanut allergies, that can cause a reaction. It also can be transferred from a kid to metal to another kid.
One woman said if a child wants to have peanut butter and can’t wait until they get home, then she felt that child has to be monitored and wash their hands to protect a child like hers who is allergic to peanut butter. She said she will continue to speak out about her child’s food allergies because her child deserves to be safe.
An unidentified grandfather of a child with severe peanut butter allergies said the food was like a loaded gun to his grandson.
Murphy later said Valley would do whatever it could to provide for and protect everyone as much as it could. Todd Hoffman, board member, asked if the food allergy policy would prevent folks from making snacks at home and bringing them into school because of food allergies, and Boggs said that was correct.
Board Secretary Tom Craft said for people like Morgan, Valley had to accommodate her needs, too.
“If someone gets singled out, that’s the problem,” Hoffman said in opposing kids with allergies having to sit at their own lunch tables.
Parent Chris Morehouse asked how the new guidelines would affect before- and after-school events. Murphy said the rules would apply to anything school related.
As a parent, Murphy said he supports the new policy and that it will be posted on the corporation’s website as quickly as possible.
Registered dietician Kaylyn MacKillop, who works as a multiple school district nutrition coordinator, through the Northern Indiana Services Center, gave an abridged presentation later on the food guidelines for schools. The presentation she gave to Valley cafeteria workers on July 30 was four hours.
She explained that while schools are not required to be on the National School Lunch Program, the USDA only provides subsidies to those that are. At schools that have the program, even students who pay full prices for lunches still are eating subsidized lunches or breakfasts.
In Indiana, 1,829 public schools participate in the lunch program and 1,761 in the breakfast program.
She said there are daily and weekly requirements for grain, meat and meat alternates, fruits, vegetables and milk. Schools won’t get subsidized for juice if that’s offered as an alternative for milk, she said, but schools can still offer it or water.
“We’re talking about nutrition but we’re going to make her drink water instead of juice. Makes a lot of sense,” board member Stan Miller commented.
MacKillop also discussed the Smart Snacks program which started last school year. It requires all food and beverages sold to students on the school campus during the school day to meet particular nutrient requirements. The school day is considered from midnight to a half hour after the final school bell rings. It includes fundraisers, vending machines, school stores, a la carte meals and culinary education programs.[[In-content Ad]]
Yet for at least one Valley student, peanut butter is one of the few foods she can eat because of her milk protein allergies.
At its July meeting, the board was presented with a food allergy policy. But instead of approving it last night, the board tabled the policy to gather more information and hear from concerned parents about the issue.
The four-page Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. food allergy guide will be posted on the district’s website. It includes the topics of identifying students with food allergies, individual written management plans, medication protocols, healthy school environments, emergency response and monitoring and evaluation, among others.
Lindsay Smith, who also works for TVSC, was the first parent to speak up about food allergies at Monday’s meeting. She said her middle daughter, Morgan, now a sixth-grader, has severe food allergies. They were so bad when Morgan was little that she ended up at Riley Hospital for Children.
It was discovered she had a protein allergy, and Smith said they went through a lot of “living and learning those first few years.” Besides milk products, she also has allergies to berries, wheat and possibly honey.
By the time her daughter entered school, Smith said she started packing her lunch.
“Very, very few things was she able to eat and we narrowed it down,” she said.
One of the few things that Smith and her husband discovered their daughter could eat was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now, as part of Valley’s food allergy policy, it wants to get rid of all peanut-based foods.
Smith described how Morgan’s kindergarten year went fine, but the head cook at Akron Elementary changed and the cook wasn’t willing to adjust Morgan’s food. For four out of five days, Morgan was given chicken nuggets. When Smith contacted the head cook, she found the cook wasn’t very willing to accommodate Morgan’s needs.
In third grade, unknown to Smith, Morgan wasn’t allowed to have juice instead of milk so she had to drink out of the water fountain every day.
Eventually, Morgan was back to sack lunches.
Peanut butter was the one saving grace for Morgan’s lunches, Smith said. Now, Valley wants to get rid of everything with peanuts because of other kids’ allergies.
Bryan Murphy, school board president, told Smith that he felt bad for her and that if she brought her food allergy concerns to the board they could have changed the policies earlier.
As the former principal of Akron Elementary when Morgan was there, Assistant Superintendent Blaine Conley said he felt bad for everything Morgan and her family had to go through and he didn’t know this went on then. He said they could have written out a food management plan for Morgan.
Now that she’s in middle school, Smith said her daughter is better now.
Later, Superintendent Brett Boggs told Smith that he was disappointed with the response she got from the head cook. “We accommodate a billion different things today, but we do it because that’s what we do,” he said. He also said any problems Smith had with the cafeteria should be brought to Principal Chrissy Mills’ attention.
Conley said 13 kids at Valley schools had food allergies last year.
Another unidentified mother spoke up and said no peanut butter at all seemed too drastic. She said Whitko Schools had a no peanut rule and they discovered it was a bad decision. Now kids can pack their own lunch and sit at their own table.
Murphy pointed out that there are schools like Triton and Laville that have had the “no peanut” rule for several years.
Another parent said her child can die from peanut allergies and she didn’t think peanut butter was more important than her child’s life. “My daughter is afraid to go to school because she’s afraid someone may give her peanut butter,” she said.
Parents spoke about how if a child eats peanut butter and doesn’t wash their hands, then touches a student with peanut allergies, that can cause a reaction. It also can be transferred from a kid to metal to another kid.
One woman said if a child wants to have peanut butter and can’t wait until they get home, then she felt that child has to be monitored and wash their hands to protect a child like hers who is allergic to peanut butter. She said she will continue to speak out about her child’s food allergies because her child deserves to be safe.
An unidentified grandfather of a child with severe peanut butter allergies said the food was like a loaded gun to his grandson.
Murphy later said Valley would do whatever it could to provide for and protect everyone as much as it could. Todd Hoffman, board member, asked if the food allergy policy would prevent folks from making snacks at home and bringing them into school because of food allergies, and Boggs said that was correct.
Board Secretary Tom Craft said for people like Morgan, Valley had to accommodate her needs, too.
“If someone gets singled out, that’s the problem,” Hoffman said in opposing kids with allergies having to sit at their own lunch tables.
Parent Chris Morehouse asked how the new guidelines would affect before- and after-school events. Murphy said the rules would apply to anything school related.
As a parent, Murphy said he supports the new policy and that it will be posted on the corporation’s website as quickly as possible.
Registered dietician Kaylyn MacKillop, who works as a multiple school district nutrition coordinator, through the Northern Indiana Services Center, gave an abridged presentation later on the food guidelines for schools. The presentation she gave to Valley cafeteria workers on July 30 was four hours.
She explained that while schools are not required to be on the National School Lunch Program, the USDA only provides subsidies to those that are. At schools that have the program, even students who pay full prices for lunches still are eating subsidized lunches or breakfasts.
In Indiana, 1,829 public schools participate in the lunch program and 1,761 in the breakfast program.
She said there are daily and weekly requirements for grain, meat and meat alternates, fruits, vegetables and milk. Schools won’t get subsidized for juice if that’s offered as an alternative for milk, she said, but schools can still offer it or water.
“We’re talking about nutrition but we’re going to make her drink water instead of juice. Makes a lot of sense,” board member Stan Miller commented.
MacKillop also discussed the Smart Snacks program which started last school year. It requires all food and beverages sold to students on the school campus during the school day to meet particular nutrient requirements. The school day is considered from midnight to a half hour after the final school bell rings. It includes fundraisers, vending machines, school stores, a la carte meals and culinary education programs.[[In-content Ad]]
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