\"Brentson\'s Law\" The Anaphylaxis Allergy Bill has Passed & Is Now Law in Tenneseee!!

Edit, see below.

[This message has been edited by Rhonda RS (edited April 01, 2006).]

Good morning! The Summary of "Brentson's Law" - *HB2442 / SB2883
"Brentson's Law" will require the department of education to develop guidelines for the management of students with life-threatening food allergies no later than January 1, 2007. These guidelines would include, but not be limited to:

(1) Education and training of school personnel on proper medication procedures and care for students with such allergies;
(2) Procedures for responding to allergic reactions;
(3) Development of individualized health care and action plans for every student with such an allergy; and
(4) Protocols to prevent allergen exposure.

There were not any guidelines in place in the state of Tennessee to help protect children with anaphylactic food allergies. My son, Brentson had an anaphylactic reaction at his Elementary School on 09/12/2005 due to cross contamination with some form of PB Product in music class where there isn't any food allowed. I had to recently take my son out of the Metro Nashville Public School System due to his PA. This was due to the lack of concern and extremely slow response by the MNPS to do what was needed to help protect Brentson and the other 5 children that attended Brentson's Elementary School with PA's. The state of Tennessee Attorney General does not recognize PA's as a disability under Section 504 due to Land vs. Baptist Medical Center. Therefore, they would not make any accommodations prescribed by Brentson's licensed Pediatrician. "Brentson's Law" is not near as strict as I wanted it to be. However, it is the first step as far as helping protect children with anaphylactic food allergies in the state of Tennessee.

Take Care,
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]

Hi Laura,

It looks to me as if this bill has not passed the TN Senate yet, only the TN House, and that it's on the calendar for the Senate Education Committee for 4/5/06. Doesn't your governor need to sign it too before it becomes a law?

It looks like your legislators lifted the language for this legislation right from the CT legislation that Rosemary and I worked on. (Why reinvent the wheel?)

Because your bill is so similar, I did want to caution you that getting the legislation passed is only part of the battle. The next part is getting on that Committee that actually writes your state's guidelines. If you are not on that Committee, you will have no say in what the TN Guidelines actually say. I was on the Committee that wrote the CT Guidelines, and had I not been on that committee, they would have turned out quite differently. (Rosemary can attest to that.)

After the state guidelines are written, you will need to get on the committee that writes the guidelines for your LEA (school district). If you are not on that committee, you will have no say, again, on what your school district's guidelines say.

As soon as the law is passed, you need to find out the name of the person who will be chairperson of the state committee, and you need to find out what the protocol is for getting on the committee.

CT Public Act 05-104
[url="http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/ACT/PA/2005PA-00104-R00SB-01312-PA.htm"]http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/ACT/PA/2005PA-00104-R00SB-01312-PA.htm[/url]

Guidelines for Managing Life Threatening Food Allergies in CT Schools
[url="http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/student/Health/Food_Allergies.pdf"]http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/student/Health/Food_Allergies.pdf[/url]
Regards,
Rhonda

[This message has been edited by Rhonda RS (edited April 01, 2006).]

I appreciate you advising me of all of this. I didn't know about the committee that would write the guidelines for the local school district. Will there be a separate committee's for each school district through out every county in Tennessee? I honestly don't believe that I will ever allow Brentson back in a Metro Nashville Public School. All of the people (that I have had the pleasure of dealing with, LOL) in the Administration of MNPS have very few or no morals, no values and I don't want my child being around such people as this period! It got to the point if the Administration with Metro Nashville Public Schools told me that it was a Beautiful Sunny Day outside I would know that we were under a Tornado Warning or we were about to get hit by a Hurricane! I don't believe a word that comes from the mouth of the Administrative Staff with MNPS! It concerns me greatly that the Administration with MNPS will lie, say what-ever necessary, and/or change their story to cover their own butt at the cost of a child's life!

Take Care & May God Bless,
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]

Hi Laura,

Your bill states that TN Dept. of Ed in conjunction w/ the TN Dept. of PH will draft guidelines, and then LEAs (local education agencies = school districts) will draft guidelines based off of the state guidelines. So, my inclination would be to say, "yes.