Suppose my Kosher child is assigned to sit next to students who bring bologna sandwiches from home every day. Would you find that acceptable or should my child be entitled to some sort of religious accomodation? What about a child with allergies?
I just have difficulty whenever government, or a governmental agent, exercises power in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Accepting such behavior demonstrates a willingness to submit to authority without question which is unacceptable to anyone who cherishes their liberty.
The rule of a Prinicpal in a school, or of a Teacher in a classroom -- or even of the Lunchroom monitor -- may well seem to or be in all reality capricious and arbitrary yet still proper to so be, in the respect for the authority they must legitimately at times wield -- to establish that "awesomeness" of authority.
Yet even then it is full subject to bounds of sanity and human decency. And foolish caprices bring on disrespect for the authority -- all of nature and man himself appreciate and honor rationally used authority and disdain capriciousness.
Yet to be capricious while with no other harm to morality, decency and not pushing over the bounds of all sanity -- that is authority's due.
I have a feeling this isn't what is behind the father's lawsuit. It's probably more like "suppose his daughter is assigned to sit next to a nerd or an uncool student". Likely religion or race have nothing to do with it --- she's at school to be cool and wants to hang with the cool kids. Likely the school has had problems with the lunch hour and kids forgetting completely what school is supposed to be about.
If you keep kosher you would know that someone sitting next to eating treif would not render your food treif , unless you put your food down in the exact same spot that their food was just on.
Food allergies; I would think they'd make accomodations for that.