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Peanut allergy stirs controversy at Florida school(Peanut Sniffing Dogs Search Classrooms!)
Yahoo ^ | 3/22/2011 | Yahoo News

Posted on 03/22/2011 6:52:11 PM PDT by Dallas59

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Some public school parents in Edgewater, Florida, want a first-grade girl with life-threatening peanut allergies removed from the classroom and home-schooled, rather than deal with special rules to protect her health, a school official said.

"That was one of the suggestions that kept coming forward from parents, to have her home-schooled. But we're required by federal law to provide accommodations. That's just not even an option for us," said Nancy Wait, spokeswoman for the Volusia County School District.

Wait said the 6-year-old's peanut allergy is so severe it is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: accommodation; ada; allergy; bizarre; peanuts; screwll
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To: DLfromthedesert
Yes, they could bring peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. They just had to leave them with the lunch ladies. The only thing I was mad about was if they brought the sandwich they had a peanut pinned to their shirt & ate at a different table. If anybody needed the peanut pinned on them, the allergic child did. It was hard to say no to the mothers who wanted to send in baked goodies. They meant well but we could not take the chance of somebody being ignorant or not believing a child can actually die from using peanut oil. There were four class mothers. The boy who was allergic to peanuts mother was one, then myself & two other mothers. Those mothers spent their days making things difficult for us. We found Dunkin Donuts was suitable for the boy & asked parents to send those in on birthdays. However about this time came the reform act. That was the no sugar, soda etc in lunches. I sent my skinny daughter to school with a gingerbread cookie as a snack, the little bit of icing on it got me a call from the nurse. Best thing I ever did was take her out of that school.
61 posted on 03/22/2011 8:22:25 PM PDT by pandoraou812 (You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.)
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

Anecdotal I know but my 100% breast fed son has a peanut allergy.

And I think it’s silly to punish everyone else for his problem. He simply avoids peanuts. If it was so bad he couldn’t even be near peanuts we would have removed him from the environment rather than ask the majority to accommodate his individual needs. That’s just selfish!


62 posted on 03/22/2011 8:23:41 PM PDT by GatorGirl (Eschew Socialism!)
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To: kalee

So do I but I could not get Sassy’s daddy to agree. When she got hit in the mouth with the hockey stick he flipped out on the school. I am still in shock he wasn’t arrested. They lied to us about it & said it was no big deal she was bleeding etc. We felt differently of course & well I let him deal with it lol.


63 posted on 03/22/2011 8:26:38 PM PDT by pandoraou812 (You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.)
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To: Dallas59; 2Jedismom; 6amgelsmama; AAABEST; aberaussie; adopt4Christ; Aggie Mama; agrace; ...

Interesting ping.


64 posted on 03/22/2011 8:27:37 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Dallas59

No need to show off your allergies to me. All these exotic allergies did not exist when I was little. They exist today because we are giving birth to weaker specimens plus people find ways to weaken themselves enough to develop allergies. Allergies don’t mean you are special they mean you are weak. I am firm on this and won’t be responding


65 posted on 03/22/2011 8:28:12 PM PDT by dennisw ( The early bird catches the worm)
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To: kalee; JenB

I hold the list, or JenB if I’m on vacation or out fo town for some reason.

The parents should homeschool her. They’d be doing her a favor to begin with. And they wouldn’t be holding the whole world hostage.


66 posted on 03/22/2011 8:33:05 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: pandoraou812

I sent my daughter with homemade honey sweetened wholewheat banana bread with unsalted butter on it and they called me saying students were not allowed to bring cake with frosting for snack. I explained what I had sent and their response was well it looked like cake to us. sigh
Private school, public school I dealt with them both, home school was definitely best!


67 posted on 03/22/2011 8:34:06 PM PDT by kalee (The offences we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we engrave in marble. J Huett 1658)
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To: freedumb2003
Where did this peanut allergy thing come from?

I wonder about that too. How many more years to we have to wait to unseal records from Carter's presidency... in particular any records having to do with deals between the government and peanut farmers. Maybe they did something to try and stimulate people's taste for peanuts and this is a side-effect.

68 posted on 03/22/2011 8:35:31 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: metmom

I am on the list, but couldn’t remember who pinged it. Late night. Thanks for the reply.


69 posted on 03/22/2011 8:35:56 PM PDT by kalee (The offences we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we engrave in marble. J Huett 1658)
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To: Tax-chick

The problem with peanut allergies is that they can be so life threatening that even contact with peanut residue can cause an anaphylactic reaction.

With gluten sensitivities, you have to eat the food to have the problem. Skin contact doesn’t cause a reaction, as peanuts can.

Peanuts are one of the WORST allergens out there.

There are a lot of overblown conditions, but considering how fast a severe reaction can occur, this girl’s life could literally be in danger. Her airway could swell shut in seconds.

And think of this.....

She and her family would be depending on the public school to initially treat her should she have a reaction, until professional help can be had.


70 posted on 03/22/2011 8:38:05 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: metmom
She and her family would be depending on the public school to initially treat her should she have a reaction, until professional help can be had.

That is down right scary. But I had to deal with that foolish nurse who fought with me over the inhaler. I got so mad that Sassy couldn't keep her inhaler at her desk I had my lawyer ( her Godfather) write a letter to the BOE threatening a lawsuit. She was able to have her inhaler. If she had to wait for that nurse to waddle down to the classroom with the inhaler she could have died.

71 posted on 03/22/2011 8:42:54 PM PDT by pandoraou812 (You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.)
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To: FelixFelicis
Aren’t there therapies that can lessen severe allergies by exposing patients to microscopic amounts of the substance over time? While she still wouldn’t be able to eat a peanut, I think there are treatments that could get her to where a stray particle wouldn’t kill her. Anyone know?

Yes, there are clinical trials being run at various medical centers in the country. IIRC, Mt. Sinai in NYC is one of them.

Apparently, they have been reasonably successful. Not all cases all the time, but it is something the parents should be checking out.

In the meantime, do the kid a favor and homeschool her.

72 posted on 03/22/2011 8:44:35 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: JDW11235

There are other factors which can worsen an allergic condition.

Stress is one of the big ones. Anyone with allergies can tell you that when they are under stress of any kind, mental, emotional, physical, it can and will worsen symptoms.


73 posted on 03/22/2011 8:46:54 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Exit148

Probably because people aren’t dying from it any more and are living to pass the sensitivity along.


74 posted on 03/22/2011 8:51:37 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Dallas59

I know a child like this. He IS homeschooled, because the classroom simply can’t be made adequately safe for his allergies.

He has a peanut sniffing dog. Before he sits at a table in our center, the dog comes over and sniffs the table. The other day someone set their sandwich wrapper on the table, and the mother went and cleaned the table under where the rapper was (it was not a peanut butter sandwich).

The problem is, the class can’t be made safe for him, if he is that allergic. Other kids are going to eat peanuts, and he will be exposed.


75 posted on 03/22/2011 8:53:30 PM PDT by I still care (I miss my friends, bagels, and the NYC skyline - but not the taxes. I love the South.)
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To: Dallas59; shibumi; JoeProBono
And here he is.


76 posted on 03/22/2011 8:55:12 PM PDT by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: Exit148

The latest theory on why allergies are on the rise is the connection to the hypercleanliness of our environment.

Hygiene hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

Basically, early exposure (under a year old even) to harmless bacteria in our environment trains the child’s immune system to react properly to invading antigens, instead of the hypersensitivity reaction of allergies.

Studies have found that the youngest child in a family has fewer allergies than older siblings. Children living in the country have fewer allergies than city dwellers, with dairy farm kids having the least.

Another observation is that continual exposure is necessary to keep allergies at bay. College age kids who go off to college, come back to find that they are now allergic to the family cat, which never bothered them before. I have friends who developed allergies later in life after moving off the family farm.

Many people think that anti-biotics play a role in triggering allergies. Whether they do or not, all I know is that my youngest, who was virtually never on them at all, has virtually no allergies, while my older two have allergies in proportion to the amount of anti-biotics they took as babies.

There’s an excellent article in an old edition of Science News, from about 1999 IIRC, called *Germs of Endearment*. It was the cover article but Science News has changed their website and I can’t find it now in their archives.


77 posted on 03/22/2011 9:06:30 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: newzjunkey; kalee
This been a common "disciplinary" practice in schools for decades, even in private schools. I don't think I've seen it work. Instead it seemed to inspire the troublemakers by giving them even more attention and veto power over the whole. Are they public employee union thugs in the making?

The reason group discipline doesn't work is because it gives the trouble maker power over the other kids.

He's going to get in trouble anyway, but it's far more rewarding when he can ruin it for other kids who have done no wrong. That's its own reward for the bully and he will do it, just to make the other kids mad and know that they can't retaliate.

Group punishment is just wrong on so many levels.

The only time I could see justifying it is when a group is protecting the troublemaker.

78 posted on 03/22/2011 9:11:39 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Dallas59
If I had a child that was that seriously allergic, there is NO WAY I would trust the other 6 year olds in the class, all the other parents and caretakers of those 6 year olds, or the teacher.

What are these parents NUTS! ( Pardon the deliberate pun.) They are placing their daughter's **life** in the hands of a classroom of 6 year olds, a busy teacher, and who know how many caretakers outside the school? Unbelievable!

79 posted on 03/22/2011 9:16:24 PM PDT by wintertime
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To: dennisw
No need to show off your allergies to me. All these exotic allergies did not exist when I was little. They exist today because we are giving birth to weaker specimens plus people find ways to weaken themselves enough to develop allergies. Allergies don’t mean you are special they mean you are weak. I am firm on this and won’t be responding

Sure they existed when we were kids. People tended to die from them first, though. Peanut allergies are no exotic. They are very common with peanuts being one of the worst allergens.

And no, allergies do not mean you are weak. On the contrary, the immune system is doing too good a job.

If you don't plan on responding, why'd you come on the thread just to poke a stick in other's eye?

BTW, we get it. You think you're pretty speshul.....

80 posted on 03/22/2011 9:18:38 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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