Can a school ban off site activities (to places such as Dairy Queen) due to a child's peanut allergy? Is there an actual legal basis that allows a prinicipal to do this? thank you

Yes, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (a federal law) gives the principal that right. The act was created to prevent those students who have disabilities (in this case life-threatening food allergies) from being excluded from school activities.
Our school district has now included that in our food allergy guidelines to show specific examples for principals to follow. Diary Queen specifically has a food contamination situation where they use shared surfaces to prepare food. This is a definite dangerous situation for children.
Hope that helps :-)

Thank you for the reply....I ask for my niece who has severe peanut allergies. The PTO sponsors events such as Meet the Teacher night & other fundraising things at places such as Dairy Queen & Lone Star Steakhouse. Obviously she can attend neither. For the strictly fundraising events, not such a big deal, as she simply doesn't go. But the Meet the Teacher one takes place a few days prior to the beginning of the school year where, naturally, they meet their new teacher.

Considering how many kids are PA in her elementary school, I was surprised to hear it was held there. I should mention before anyone jumps in to say anything negative, that my sister in law has no intention on having this changed...in fact she never even mentioned it to the school. But it got us to talking about what the school's authority regarding off site activities is...not necessarily field trips but quasi-school functions like this one and whether the school or principal has any legal basis in limiting where these types of events are held. (again not that she has any plans on doing anything).

Was just curious if there was anything in the law that gives the school the legal authority. Thanks again :)