“We have many more children with food allergies entering our schools, and there are always lots of questions" about it, said Gail Kelley, the district’s nursing director. She said almost 120 of the approximately 2,900 students in the Dedham schools have serious food allergies.
Kelley is working with a subcommittee of the School Committee to update the current food allergy policy. The recommendation calls for eliminating food as a “reward or incentive” and prohibiting the sale of outside food and beverages during the school day.
The ban does not apply to PTO-sponsored fund-raisers.
In addition, any food brought into school for special occasions would need to be approved by the school’s principal and nurse, Kelley said.
Students with food allergies would continue to have individual plans for how to keep them safe, she said.
“We haven’t advocated for peanut-free [schools] at this point, for many reasons,” she said. “For one thing, it’s not only peanut allergies we’re dealing with. It’s tree nut allergies and dairy allergies. All are serious, and where do you stop? But also the experts don’t necessarily advocate for peanut-free schools because the belief is people [then] let their guard down.”
The School Committee has the allergy policy on its agenda for its Jan. 5 meeting.
The proposal has stirred some debate among parents who worry it goes too far. In response, Kelley said she invited Dr. Michael Young, author of “The Peanut Allergy Answer Book” to speak about the issue Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m., in the Dedham High School auditorium. A professor at Harvard medical School who practices at Children’s Hospital, he is “the peanut allergy guru,” she said.
“I’m hopeful that not only the parents of kids with allergies will attend,” she said.
“Our intent is to keep kids safe,” she added. “We recognize the value of fund-raising, so how do we do both?”
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