Peanut Butter…Banned at Pinch, Elementary School in WV
I was watching channel 13 news and they had a section about peanut butter, and how it was banned from the elementary school. What spurred the media coverage was an issue where a little girl had a peanut butter sandwich and a banana for lunch. Apparently, she was told she could not have the peanut butter sandwich, since it was Pinch Elementary contraband. She was left only with the banana to eat for the day.
The arguments from the school were that they had sent a letter home with the student, maybe a 1st grader, to inform the parents of the ban of peanut butter, due to 5 students in the school having peanut allergies. The principle and the teachers played a well executed text-book CYA on this, they said that she chose not to eat her sandwich.
Now, why did I take the time to vent about this…education in WV is poor, there is usually no funding for students, or so the school board always says, and they always find some ridiculous thing to put all of their effort into. I am sure the students who have the allergy to PB know they have it, and that their teachers are informed. So why ban all of the other kids from having peanut butter?
Next, our brilliant educators will have drug dogs searching elementary school students for crack, meth, marijuana, and oh hell no…don’t even think about bringing peanut butter in this school.
There is always some little toy or some annoying gadget that is out every year that elementary, middle/junior, and high schools seem to find to annoy teachers or pose a threat. I remember in my junior high days, all jackets, backpacks, purses, and hooded sweatshirts were to be left in our lockers until we left for the day. I remember how on cold days we all froze. I guess the idea was that someone could pack a gun or store “contraband” in their hooded sweatshirt, jacket, purse, or backpack. Hmm I don’t think the hood of a sweat shirt is a good place to pack your heat or your chronic.
Another annoying gadget was the wrist-watch that worked as a universal TV remote. We had TV’s in all of our classrooms, and some students programmed their watches to work the TV’s. This was comical at first because the teachers didn’t know what was going on. Then the “watch-remote task force was formed” and then no more fun.
I miss those days, but back on track…Most of the new “rules & policies” for Kanawha County, WV came from an elected Board of Education, in like most governmental/state ran operation, rules and laws are passed without thought on how to implement them, or if they do have a plan of implementation, I think they forget to cover any variables.
If only they could bring paddling back, I think they would have a huge drop in behavioral problems and possibly have more time to teach or come up with more asinine rules to follow.
September 2, 2006 at 9:34 am
Some schools are becoming like prisons. I support the European model of education: after 9th grade, going to school is optional. High school should be a preparatory program for people who want to go to college, or some other training program (like radiology tech), or work in jobs requiring some education (secretary, receptionist, etc.). Everyone else can go ahead and start working full time after their 9th grade year. That gets rid of the riffraff for whom high school is a waste of time anyway, and creates a more product learning environment for everyone else.
September 18, 2006 at 1:00 am
What so many of you self-centered morons forget is that peanut allergies are often potenially fatal if a person has a high-level allergy. Anaphylactic shock, which often causes airway constriction, can occur in as little as a few minutes. A person can go from perfectly fine to dead in 10 minutes. Is that enough time for the school nurse to get to the child an administer an Epi shot? What if there are complications? What if the child needs to be intibated? What if the child goes to school in a rural area where ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance service is unavailable?
Yeah in a perfect world peanuts wouldn’t bother anyone. But the difference between banning cell phones and peanut butter is that cell phones don’t come with an inherent risk of death you warthog-faced baffoon.
Josh
September 18, 2006 at 6:39 am
Josh,
I think you missed the point, I am complaining about the way the teachers and schoolboard solution. Banning all PB (Peanut Butter) and going on a PB task force is a little much. My grumble was with the way the school handled the issue with the little girl not being able to eat her PB&J sandwich because some teacher went on a power trip. You could tell on the newscast that the principle and teacher covered up what was told to the little girl.
Children being children are generally cruel, if they found out who had the allergy, someone would probalby play a joke on them, maybe like putting PB on all of the door handles, etc.
BTW how many PB allergy deaths have taken place at schools, giving that the student knew he/she had the allergy? probably not very many. The drugs and weapons kids take to school these days are more dangerous statisticly than PB.
Cell phones do kill: go pump gas and have someone call youor go stand near a combustible gas and have someone call you. People crash their cars all of the time because they can’t talk and drive at the same time. If cell phones do not kill us that way they will probably give us all brain cancer later on.
My other point, you have to draw the line somewhere or if you give in to every type or everyone’s illnesses then we should all be home schooled via the net or like the boy in the bubble movie.
In a “Perfect world” hmm a bit cliche’ and we keep slipping farther away every day.
September 19, 2006 at 2:09 am
Clifton9:
As a firefighter and father of a peanut allergic child, I draw the line when it comes to life and death (and BTW, just because a child does not die, does not mean a reaction is not traumatic, expensive and ultimately disruptive to their education).
What really pisses me off is people’s willingness to give into the federal govt taking our rights away for the sake of terrorism, but taking away a PB&J to teach a child to respect the rules is a controversy. In the 70s, my father’s teachers hit their students with erasers when they fell asleep in class and no one cared.
Children, BTW, are cruel sometimes, but rarely stupid. Given proper and serious education about allergies, they will generally respect such a serious situation. And, BTW, your argument here is lame considering even if they did not ban PB, peanut allergy education is becoming the standard as more children are getting the allergy. This problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and when a child actually dies in school, the shit will hit the fan, because, remember, the school is liable for anything that happens to the students in their care, especially in a preventable situation.
“BTW how many PB allergy deaths have taken place at schools, giving that the student knew he/she had the allergy? probably not very many. The drugs and weapons kids take to school these days are more dangerous statisticly than PB.”
Are you fucking serious? Your telling me we should just accept children DYING from a preventable situation? Guns are a problem, so are you going to protest metal detectors or locker searches as well?
And, BTW, you should avoid talking about fire, which you obviously know shit about. You can’t start a fire with a cell phone at a gas station. Speaking of fire, being on the department, you know more than half of the fatalities I’ve seen were caused by preventable situations - drinking, not wearing seat belts or helmets or forgetting to put batteries in the fire alarm. So, should we accept it and stop teaching fire and vehicle safety?
Maybe in your mind, as you are obviously not a parent, you can draw a line. But, when it comes to safety, especially the life of my child, I hope educators take his illness seriously.
I’ll tell you what, you try choking slowly to death because the asshole next to you was too selfish to repsect your allergy and then you can talk.
The problem isn’t the school’s policies, it is the fat, selfish, pig-headed American society we’ve developed that can’t tell their kids no, or better yet, use this as a lesson about caring for others to put the nuts aside during the day for the well being of another child. I mean seriously, what the fuck is wrong with parents who threaten to sue over their child’s right to PB&J?
September 19, 2006 at 3:55 am
Josh,
A firefighter, congrats my hats off to you many people couln’t do that job. Proud parent, obviously
that is great as well, some people don’t care about their children.
I have a couple of things for you:
first, stop using the Foul language, does father of the year use the F word in front of his child?
Why don’t you, instead of whining, reply with something educational, tell me all about Peanut allergies (in PG-13 fashion, “RESPECT” those not wanting to read your profanities).
On a serious note, do you educate your child on what to do if a PB incident takes place?
Can they be affected by touching peanuts not eating them.
This would be a really horrible allergy to have, peanuts are so common, Logan’s Roadhouse would be a Hooror house. How do you cope with places that server peanuts by the bucket like logans.
How do you check pre-processed foods, etc. I am guessing that about 99% of all meals come from home.
So you are saying we shouldn’t give out Resse Cups for Trick or Treat ngiht?
What is a day like for the parent’s, checking for PB use in foods or just the PB issue in general.
October 2, 2006 at 10:47 pm
I found your blog by chance searching for support & info. I realize that you are just uninformed. As I was once.
First, I was like you years ago. My dear friend told me he was deathly allergic to peanuts and went to great legnths to avoid foods of all kinds, including ones I THOUGHT didn’t have peanuts in them. I thought he was over-reacting, here’s this big strong guy, how can a little peanut kill him??
Well, one day at work our company was sent a big jar of Jelly-Belly jelly beans. He walked up, picked up the lid, grabbed a handful and put them in his mouth. Seconds later before our eyes, he just fell to floor, eyes rolling back in his head he swelled up, his ear went flat and he turned blue. Someone realized what was happening ran to his office to get his epi pen and we called 911 - he almost died right there at our feet. I was a BELIEVER. It seems since Jelly-Belly jelly beans have a peanut-flavored bean there are trace amounts of peanuts in them and they are all processed on the same equipment. It’s said to say I had to see it to believe it. It was a terrifying experience.
NOW present day, we discovered our son had an allergy to peanuts and peanut oil at age two - long scary stories of reactions which we didn’t know the cause until he was tested. Last Friday at boy scouts we walked through a small hallway with a bunch of people eating cookies, I told my son not to touch anything and we quickly got through the hallway. Well, of course my DS(6) touched the walls and the railing on the stairs (hindsight being 20/20 I should have just picked him up), by the time we got to the car his speach was slurred and response delayed, minutes later he was covered in a horrible rash on all the parts of his skin that was exposed, his eyes were swollen and red and his face puffy and he said his mouth and throat were on fire. He has been VERY sick now for the past three days. He has slept all day today and when he wakes up he crys.
What is terrifying to me is that with each exposure the reactions worsen. We know he’ll have anaphylactic reaction if he eats it (past experiences), now we know (for sure) that the danger exists for him even if he touches as well.
So, answer to your questions:
YES - they can just touch a peanut OR touch something that has touched a peanut and have a reaction (cross-contamination).
YES - it is an exhaustive process checking all labels and double checking calling manufacturers for products that contain peanuts or maybe CROSS-CONTAMINATED
YES - places that serve peanuts Like Roadhouse or Longhorn or places that fry their foods in peanut oil like Chick-fil-a are virtual HORROR houses for us. We have to call ahead to every restaurant we go to, to check to see if they use or serve peanut products. We just can’t go to a restaurant without calling first.
Flying on airplanes is avoided as much as possible. We can only fly certain airlines. The tray and seat have to be wiped down and I cover the chair itself with a blanket I discard after we get off the plane.
We can not have play dates at peoples homes whom serve peanut butter because residue maybe on the toys and if my son touches it he will have a reaction.
Disney World is quite terrifying and we have to bring our own food and get permission prior to going and carry a letter from our doctor. I carry Clorox wipes to wipe down surfaces everywhere and wash his hands constantly. We don’t go into any shops that have food or restaurants.
The bulk bins at the grocery stores are terrfiying and all around them as well.
The checkout stands at stores with all the bags of peanuts are terrifying and my son can not go near them. They don’t wash the bags after they are packaged, it would be foolish to think that no peanut residue is on the outside of the bags.
YES - Halloween is particularly challenging to say the least. Honestly, I would recommend not handing out candy with peanuts but that limits you to tootsie rolls, sweetarts, nerds and dum dum suckers. That’s the only safe candy I’ve found. Chances are if it’s chocolate it’s contaminated.
It’s an exhaustive process, and just when you think you’re fine something like our incident at Boy Scouts happens. We can’t be too careful. I’m sick to my stomach as I sit here and write this with my son sick sleeping in the other room because I was careless 4 night ago.
His diet is very limited as you can imagine and we stay away from pre-processed foods.
We homeschool our child, his food allergy is one of the reasons. As careful as we are, exposure happens. And it God Forbid, it just takes a couple of seconds and he can die, literally die. For some children a peanut is the same as a loaded gun. And if you read NEW statistics peanuts allergies are on the rise.
I do think schools should ban peanut items, one child is too many to die from something like a snack. It’s just not worth it. Peanuts can be eaten at home. I feel the same way about any foods that may cause death. It’s just that peanuts leave a unseen, unfelt residue from their oils…and is SO hard to control. Is a snack worth a child?
AND if you are not on alert (or even if you are) by the time you realize a reaction is happening, it maybe too late. AND what is very important to know is that an EpiPen is NOT a magic wand! It doesn’t make it all better, sometimes two and three shots don’t even help.
I was happy to help educate you please see http://www.foodallergy.org for more information.
It happens in just seconds and it’s a QUIET reaction! They don’t cry out, or fuss…they just get really really quiet.
Quite honestly I do feel the firefighters frustration, having had to deal with people unwilling to listen or learn and playing with my child’s life over a cookie.
Anyway, this was my first time ever responding to a blog…I’ve never blogged…not sure this will work when I hit the submit button…but God Bless and take care.
November 4, 2006 at 3:26 pm
As Josh’s wife and mother of his food allergic son, I have a few things to add….
As of January 1, 2006, the FDA requires food labeling to list in plain English either a list of possible food allergens (the eight most likely to elicit severe reactions), or it must list the allergen in the list of ingredients.
As far as restaurants, any restaurant that openly serves peanuts is out. We know not to go there. We know to avoid it. School cannot be avoided. Restaurants are a choice. We live in a city that requires restaurants to disclose any nut or peanut ingredients. Unfortunately, this has not always been easy, but we have found that servers and chefs and cooks are very helpful in determining if food is safe.
As far as your comment on Halloween, again, trick or treating is a choice, school is not. Candy comes in wrappers, thus a barrier and a label help protect our child. This Halloween we went through our child’s candy and removed anything that can elicit a reaction, and had extra treats that were safe for him.
“My other point, you have to draw the line somewhere or if you give in to every type or everyone’s illnesses then we should all be home schooled via the net or like the boy in the bubble movie.”
Here I’m sorry, you make yourself sound like an idiot. No one is suggesting to give in to every type of illness. Hmm, no, your right, lets get rid of all medical gloves because HIV is of no concern if someone starts bleeding. I had to take my son to the ER during his first allergic reaction. It was a five minute drive, and in retrospect, we should have called an ambulance. However, it was the longest drive of my life. I spent the whole trip pinching him in order to hear him make sounds so i knew he was breathing. His face was swollen, and i couldn’t recognize him aside from his clothing. At the ER, I had to watch my 13 month old, who couldn’t see because his eyes were swollen shut receive epinephrine and diphenhydramine through an IV the nurse had a difficult time starting. I held him as he cried an developed hives, turning his whole body red. I watched and listened to his oxygen monitor beep and drop to 90% saturation. I held him as he received an uncomfortable breathing treatment. I held him as he was taken to the ICU. All of this occurred because his daycare provider gave him peanut butter on a cracker, which he didn’t even eat–he merely got it in his eyes. As a result, his daycare provider willingly decided to go peanut free. And mind you, I place no blame on his daycare. He was well within the recommended age to start eating peanut butter. This reaction was going to happen somehow, however we now know future reactions are preventable.
I will not home school my child. I only hope that by the time he is ready to go to school, there will be the option of a peanut free classroom, or even one school dedicated to be peanut free. For my son, and for all children with life-threatening peanut allergies, a child carrying a peanut butter sandwich is as deadly as a child carrying a gun. But I bet even for you, the second amendment doesn’t even protect the child.
You are very insensitive. I hope you never have to wonder if your child is going to die in your arms. If you believe in karma, you’re screwed. You read the article about peanut butter banned in schools and did not even take it upon yourself to educate yourself about the allergy before spouting off about how unjust the world is, but the rest of us are not supposed to react to you, and should instead educate you.
Lastly, do not underestimate the rage of father of the year. When his child’s life is at stake, language is the last thing to worry about. Mind you, that language is reserved for closed-minded bloggers, not his son. Pull your head out of your ass and enjoy the view.
November 4, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Great, now the wife of the husband who has the vast vocabulary joins in. This is my message to the Wolfe’s YOU TWO REALLY NEED TO GET A LIFE. I asked Mr. Wolfe to explain more about peanut allergy, and maybe educate someone and he could not reply to that, he just wanted someone to argue with and now your telling me how stupid I am.
I really learned a great deal about the allergy from the comment “Concerned Mom”, this lady was still passionate and did a great job explaining the illness.
You and your husband just want to attack someone. I asked after your husband wrote the equivalent of a middle school level reply, for him to explain and educate, he apparently can do no more than use abusive language and was more worried about telling me what a moron I am and how stupid I am. LOL and now you join in.
To the Wolfe’s please do not reply any more, go find something better to do with your time.
I learned a great deal from “Concerned Mom’s” post, enough to really respect the seriousness of the allergy.
Maybe you two should follow her lead instead of personally insulting someone or just wanting to start an argument and do something positive with your time like she did.
On a serious note —
In response to “Concerned Mom” wow what an explanation. It is amazing how something so common, almost like the staple food for kids, peanut butter, could be so lethal.
Considering the large outbreak of individuals who have peanut allergies, have there been any research to determine why so many people are having this now? Or maybe what causes it? What could help promote and educate people of this issue, I believe, myself included, that many people do not understand how critical the problem can be. I really learned a lot from your post and look at the situation in a entirely different light. My original post was about how the teacher confiscated the little girls sandwich like it was contraband, and how the teacher/principle played the cover up, not so much emphasis on the peanut butter issue, the unintentional is what became explosive on this blog.
This has been a learning experience, in many ways. “Concerned Mom” I am glad your first post was here, my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your child. You should start your own blog. This was just off the whim that I wrote about this subject and it is one of the most viewed of my blogs. It is really a popular subject, so there must be many people looking for answers.
January 17, 2007 at 3:09 pm
“Between 1997 and 2002, according to a study by allergy researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the prevalence of food allergy alone doubled in North America; about 6 per cent of young children today have food allergies.”
“Kramer says the unprecedented growth in allergies remains a mystery. While theories such as the hygiene hypothesis link the rise to immune systems lacking exposure to germs and parasites, newer research is also finding flaws in that argument. On peanut allergies, for instance, he says: ‘We still don’t have a clue why they are becoming more common and severe.’” (Dr. Michael Kramer, Scientific Director of the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, as well as a professor at McGill University in the departments of pediatrics and epidemiology, biostatistics and occupational health.)
Both quotes from Allergic Living magazine, winter 2007
You wanted to know…
March 29, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Hello?! Has anyone heard of personal responsibility?! Why not teach allergic children about prophylaxis, rather than discriminating against non-allergic children? We teach our children not to take candy from strangers, so why not teach them not to take peanuts from anyone?! Jeez! Let’s create another generation of pseudo-handicapped individuals with an entitlement complex and lack of personal responsibility.
March 30, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Allergic children carry more personal responsibility at six years old than most kids do at twice that age? Allergic kids know to NEVER eat food that hasn’t been vetted by their parents. They keep an Epipen with them at all times, and know how to use it (even though most kids that age can’t even keep track of their own mittens). They take their own food to events where food is usually provided, and are very used to “sucking it up” when their friends are sharing some enticing food that they can’t eat. But none of this will help them when they touch a doorknob with peanut butter smeared on it, or some “don’t discriminate against me” non-allergic creep shoves a peanut butter sandwich in their face at recess. Yes this happens. Last week my son took a bag of crackers to school, and a boy who had eaten peanuts reached in and took one. My son couldn’t eat the rest of HIS OWN snack.
July 4, 2007 at 11:58 pm
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August 15, 2007 at 2:23 pm
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May 16, 2008 at 9:22 am
PB&J sandwiches are being outlawed at some schools because some children are very sensitive to peanuts. My question is this, shouldn’t any sandwich that uses bread made from wheat flour also be banned because some children are sensitive to wheat? You know there are other options. There is rye bread made from rye flour. There is potato flour. These would be much safer options.