How do you sell the school on food free classrooms?

I asked the same question a while back...

Here's the thread.

[url="http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/Forum7/HTML/002872.html"]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/Forum7/HTML/002872.html[/url]

thanks mommyofmatt

Lilpig-We don't have a food-free room. We did have a gift handed to us in June by the school district: they have implemented a wellness policy that encourages either 1 birthday a month (all kids with January bday would celebrate on that day) or food-free birthday celebrations. It cuts down on the days of treats being in the room considerably. Maybe the teacher would be willign to do that? We only had 2 holiday parties this past year (kindergarten), I think: Halloween ("Fall Party") and a Holiday Party in December. There was also a celebration after graduation. 8 holiday parties seems completely excessive + 17 bday parties.

You could also insist that all baked goods are a certain brand (one you are comfortable with) or from a certain bakery...I haven't found one yet (baked goods or bakery) for us. My DD is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs. Even if she wasn't allergic to eggs; I don't think there are peanut-, tree-nut free bakeries.

DD brings her own snack in on treat days, but I still worry about the possible residue on hands, desks, etc..

Nicole

Same here...in part because of the wellness policy our school is shifting toward food-free Bdays anyhow (they may be already there?) Anyhow all allergy classes are food free bdays. It's a lot easier to blame the wellness policy.

But also it would be impossible for the teacher to police 17 people's home-baked goods...how do you really know if they remembered to make it tnut free? and then do you send it home if they forget and have a 5 year old in tears? Do they want to deal with a possible rxn and have all the other children watch? It would be pretty traumatic!

Possible compromises if it's not going over well...Maybe you could at least suggest food-free treats to the parents? (Theoretically our school only 'asked' for food-free treats but every parent complied because it was still worded fairly strongly). You may be surprised that quite a few don't want their child getting a cupcake on a weekly basis. Or only store bought treats with ingredient list?

Good luck! Luvmyboys

You might want to do a search on home baked goods in schools and Hepatitis. There have been entire classes of children who got very sick after a contaminated food was brought into the class. I wish I could remember the specifics, but I don't.

I'd just search for home baked goods and illness.

My oldest doesn't have food allergies, but I still cringe when he says someone brought in a home-baked treat.

It just might be another angle--protecting all of the kids from a nasty illness.

Quote:Originally posted by PinkPoodle:
[b]You might want to do a search on home baked goods in schools and Hepatitis. There have been entire classes of children who got very sick after a contaminated food was brought into the class. I wish I could remember the specifics, but I don't.

I'd just search for home baked goods and illness.

My oldest doesn't have food allergies, but I still cringe when he says someone brought in a home-baked treat.

It just might be another angle--protecting all of the kids from a nasty illness.

[/b]

Ahh, good one. Sometimes I'm relieved my kid doesn't have to eat baked goods from other homes, for more reasons than allergies. I'll definitely look for this info. Another reason for packaged treats!