I am PTA 2nd VP at my 1st grader PA/TN dd's school. We are having a PTA sponsored night. I emailed this to our PTA president...
Good afternoon. Hope you are doing well and having a great day. Since we are serving snacks (possibly sweets) at "our event" and we have roughly 25 students with food allergies ranging from mild to life threatening (lactose intolerance, shellfish, nuts, and milk just to name a few), I thought it would be a good idea to display any of the eight major allergens that are contained in the foods we bring in. The eight major allergens are:
Milk
Eggs
Peanuts
Tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts)
Fish (such as bass, cod, flounder)
Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, shrimp)
Soy
Wheat
This way the parents of the children that have allergies can tell what their child can and cannot have without the high risk of reaction. I am willing to go thru the ingredients of what we bring prior to the event and make the display. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks
I was appauled at the reply:
At every function, we have food. If people have allergies,then they do not have to eat. I have never heard of a problem with any school function having a child die from the snacks. It would make sense for the children with severe, life threatening allergies to stay away from the cake or cookies. You are welcome to provide something else for those children.
I emailed her back with:
I must say, I am shocked at your reply. It is not fair in any way for a child to see all of his/her friends eating cookies and cake and he/she cannot have any, especially when all it takes is to read the ingredients. My take on PTA is being fair to all kids as well as keeping them safe. There have been many, many kids die at school and at school related functions due to food allergies...I can direct you to a site that has a memorial for these kids. Just because it has not happened at "our school (I named it in my email)", doesn't mean that it cant happen at "our school (I named it in my email)". One bite can kill a child! I am only looking out for these kids. Education is the key to keeping them safe and I am sure that the parents of these kids with food allergies would appreciate and respect the fact that we (the PTA) listed allergy info on at least the sweet food that we serve.
Please tell me if I am crazy! The part that gets me even more upset is this person is not only PTA President, but she is a teacher assistant in another class as well as a sub for ANY class! I am just soooo upset! I never want her to sub in dd's class as she doesnt take food allergies seriously. Not sure what to do.
Thoughts?
I know that even though our school is nut free, our pta evens are not "school", but that doesnt mean they shouldnt be safe as well..for All Kids, not just the kids that have no food allergies.
Well, I think their response was awful, but I would not expect the school to say okay, because of the liability issue. I would not have been comfortable letting my milk allergic pa child eat that food anyhow. If an item listed, for example, soy and wheat, I would think is it really milk free? Does whoever is deciding it is milk free know that casein means milk or whey means milk or lactate can mean milk? Was it made free of cross contamination? Same thing with egg: does the person who says it only contains soy and wheat know that albumin can mean egg? Are there cross contamination issues? Still their response was extremely rude.
Do you have a 504 plan? I know even if I got that kind of response from the PTA at our school I would NOT get that kind of 'I could care less' response from the principal. Our 504 says something about her working with the PTA with respect to allergies.
This person seems irritated and put out by allergies. That said, it probably isn't a good idea to go declaring foods 'nut safe', etc... Although at one of my moms' groups I find it very helpful when people label their foods 'has nuts' so I can avoid them since I am nursing a sibling of my 2 PA sons.
Good Luck. Luvmyboys
Quote:Originally posted by TeddyAlly:
[b]I know that even though our school is nut free, our pta events are not "school", but that doesnt mean they shouldnt be safe as well..for All Kids, not just the kids that have no food allergies.[/b]
I don't understand.
Is the school's 'nut free' status declared outright? in writing anywhere? If so, why would the PTA events be exempt from the school's already pre-determined 'nut free' status? Who declared that they are exempt? Is the PTA event occurring on school property?
Hmmmm . . . I would question this.
Good point. I remember in elementary school when we had the principal who did not want special needs kids in the school, the PTA always put their food on the peanut free table. It never had peanuts, so I didn`t worry about it, then one time it did. I wrote a letter to the principal who did not seem very concerned. So I had dd`s allergist write a letter, and then they moved the peanut free table (turned out the PTA had to use that table because it was the only one near an electrical outlet for the coffee maker). Anyhow, they moved the peanut free table. They could not have the PTA putting peanut products on the peanut free table because then it was not a peanut free table and violated the 504.
TeddyAlly,
My post simply based on my own experience and what I see at our school. I would never write a letter to the PTO president. Many of these ladies don't give a hoot about food allergies and just have their own agenda of what they want to do.
On the other hand, we have a terrific principal. He controls "his" school. What the PTO does must fall under his guidelines. Anything pertaining to food allergies must come from him, not me. I'm a nobody, whereas, he's a somebody. No one will listen to me, but they have to listen to him.
Thank you so much ladies. I did get a response from her and I did email her back again...so the saga continues:
She writes:
Seriously, I am not saying we cannot list ingredients. Everything you buy has a list of ingredients. I am saying that every school and every event whether it be church, restaurant or school, cooks for the majority. I had cousins with milk allergies, so they did not eat or drink milk products. We have so many things to consider when planning these things. Last year we had a cake for Mr. B and none was upset. I do not understand you wanting us to have only what your child can eat. We can have both. Maybe you should head the food committee and be in charge of what we serve. It is not fair to the majority of children to not have certain things because of a few. In a public school with limited PTA resources, we can only do so much. Therefore, provide what you think is appropriate. I am not being ugly and there is no need for drama. The people I have come across in the past with children who have allergies have provided the food for their own children. It is not right to get angry at me because I say provide your own food. I would it if were me. We all have things we can and cannot eat. I understand your daughter could have a horrible reaction and possibly die, and as a mom I sympathize greatly. I just would provide my daughter her own food and not take risks or impose her inability to eat something on others. You have to understand that.
We can talk about it at the meeting Wednesday if you plan to come. Let me reiterate, you may buy whatever you think is appropriate to sell as well. I have no problem with that.
I replied:
I am not saying we should not buy and sell certain items, I am saying as a courtesy, what will it hurt to list the allergy info. I am NOT saying we can have only what my daughter can eat...I never said that and I never would say that. I do provide my daughter with her own food every day of my life, read every ingredient on every box or ask at every place we eat..I do understand what I have to do. What I am saying is that the majority of the places that serve food do list the allergy info or if I ask, they all have an answer. If someone asks us at a PTA event, are we going to know what to say? No, we will have to say, "Eat at your own risk!" That is not fair when all it takes is a simple sheet that states the allergy info. I have no desire to head up the food committee, but I have no problem helping out in any area (you know that). Just don't understand the harshness of your 1st email. Let me reiterate, I am NOT saying we can have only what my daughter can eat...I never said that and I never would say that.
The school is nut free in writing. Not sure who declared it, we were not at this school when it was declared. All it states is that the school cannot, will not, and does not serve any foods containing nuts.
Thank you all again. I am just very bothered this.
Right on, ryan's mom. It's the school's responsibility to enforce it's policies/procedures, not a parent.
Our 504 reads:
[i]"The Parent Association will be informed of the list of approved foods. The school administration will work with the Parent Association so that food they provide will be from the list of approved foods. Should a new food item be needed that is currently not on the list, the food label will be submitted to the Food Services Director for analysis, pre-approved, and then added to the list. "[/i]
Quote:Originally posted by TeddyAlly:
[b]The school is nut free in writing. . . . All it states is that the school cannot, will not, and does not serve any foods containing nuts. [/b]
Can you ask the principal to forward this information to this woman?
Quote:Originally posted by TeddyAlly:
[b] The part that gets me even more upset is this person is not only PTA President, but she is a teacher assistant in another class as well as a sub for ANY class! I am just soooo upset! I never want her to sub in dd's class as she doesnt take food allergies seriously.
[/b]
Then she is a [i]representative[/i] of the district, yes? When she makes her [i]declarations[/i] the school should sit up and take notice. I mean, just hypothesising here, but if she marched in a KKK parade, would her continued involvement in [i]official school business[/i] or even just [i]sanctioned activity[/i] be permitted? Even if her personal activities were entirely non-school related...
How far is our "personal belief" system allowed to permeate our employment environment? As far as to contradict our employer's legal obligation? The handbook? [i]The Mission Statement[/i]?
Anyone?
General Disclaimer: I am not offering advice in any manner or form. I am merely hypothesising and asking silly questions. And rolling my eyes. Cuz I'm almost getting the impression that volunteers think that the mere act of volunteering means the rules don't apply to them....and that the school doesn't either, but how mistaken!! (in my personal opinion, and not as advice)
[i]Volunteers are guests[/i], and even if only by the very nature of such a relationship, should adhere to the [i]house rules[/i].
The institution I work for has very strict [i]requirements[/i] and [i]standards[/i] for [i]volunteers[/i].
They inservice them, as a matter of fact. They are [i]ambassadors[/i] of our institution in the truest sense of the word. People view them as persons so committed to our [i]Mission Statement[/i] that they would necessarily [i]volunteer[/i]. They are the walking talking advertisement of our core beliefs...
I had great luck when I approached the PTO president at our school. My concern was that our school is not peanut free and realized that they were contaminating the Media Center during meetings, there were no rules about food for PTO events etc.
Our PTO president is a mom and hopped right to it. No nuts served for ANY PTO event or function including meetings/events where there are adults only attending.
I also spoke to the PTO about Reading Labels and Cross Contamination.
This lady you're dealing with should have to adhere to the rules of the school and if your school is PN free, the food should be. I think you have to point out to her that simply not drinking milk isn't avoidance with a milk allergy. Send her some labels of food with milk and explain the labeling laws and their purpose!
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