A policy to regulate student food allergy management will come before the Warren Township High School Board on Tuesday – and has already been a contentious topic for at least one other local board.
Under a new law, Illinois schools are required to implement life-threatening food allergy policies based on Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines by a Jan. 1 deadline.
Anaphylactic reaction and management training for teachers, school nurses and other personnel who work with students must be conducted in districts by Aug. 13, two years after the law was passed, according to the ISBE Web site.
The Warren Township High School Board will discuss its own policy on implementing a Food Allergy Management Program as part of an emergency reading and approval of board policies and administrative procedures at its Tuesday meeting.
But another district – Woodland, an elementary district that feeds into Warren Township High School – has already discussed its plan and dealt with some community reaction.
During an impassioned speech at a board meeting last week, Woodland District 50 School Board President Larry Gregorash pulled out an Epi-Pen – a syringe filled with the anti-anaphylaxis drug epinephrine – and told the story of his own life-threatening food allergy.
The District 50 board was the subject of heated discussion after a December conversation between Gregorash and board member Catherine Campbell in which she referred to the unfunded nature of the law as “ridiculous.”
“Let me be clear that the board and this district are completely supportive of educating our staff and students regarding life-threatening allergies and taking necessary precautions to ensure the safety of all our students,” Gregorash said.
It’s not the law or the policy itself that board members disagree with, he said, but that the state continuously imposes regulations without helping districts to pay for implementation of those laws.
Gregorash told residents and staff at the meeting that unfunded mandates mean “more work, more time, more effort, more expense to the district and no additional funding from the state to pay for it.”
The Woodland allergy plan passed in December, before the Jan. 1 deadline.
On the very day that this article was run, my daughter was transported to Condell after going into anaphylaxis from an accidental ingestion of one of her food allergens. Twenty minutes after receiving the life-saving dose of epinephrine, her body began to violently react to a trace amount of this toxin: dairy. That is ridiculous! That a common every day food can kill. And what is even more ridiculous is that you whine over the cost educating the very staff that take charge of children with this deadly condition when there are several organizations that will educate the staff FOR FREE!!!! If you have no compassion for children then, you should NOT be on a school board! Please contact http://www.foodallergy.org (FAAN) for information about local educators who would be thrilled to share their knowledge!
I understand Ms. Campbell’s frustration about funding but obviously she does not have a family member or friend with any type of severe allergy. If she did she would not make a statement such as calling an allergy statement for a school district as ridiculous.
I am a business owner. I also daily work with families constantly in regards to their food selections. This is because my store is within two blocks of a large research and allergen clinic.
These people are scared, upset, depressed, angry and feel hopeless. Their entire life has been turned upside down and they have no idea how to survive the rest of their life.
So to call a motion like this as ridiculous because of lack of funding
shows her inexperience and lack of compassion for an entire group of people, who through no fault of their own, now must learn how to re-live their life to keep themselves safe.
As in my business, yes there is times when the funding is not there. But circumstances dictate at times something must be done anyway.
I hope the message about the severity of this situation can be realized and somehow help can be offered to a group which sorely needs hope and help from their local community.
For the allergic or just information to help the allergen community please visit my site at http://www.allergyfreeandsugarfreesnacks.com