Best public schools to manage food allergies

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this OP. I have a child the same age with a peanut allergy and I break into a cold sweat thinking about sending him to school eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here-- thank you for all of your replies. Wow-- it is making me nervous about sending my DS to school in a few years (he is only 2 right now) but we want to figure out where to move before he is out of his daycare/ preschool. He is currently allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and eggs. Peanuts and tree nuts being the worst. Sounds like things vary school by school. I just dont think I can send him to a school where his epis are locked in the nurses office and not in his classroom. I am about to cry even thinking about it. We have had 3 very scary incidents and hospital visits while trying to figure out his allergies. Does anyone have a 504 plan in place that allows the epis in the classroom?

Not to trivialize your son's allergies and i dont mean to sound ignorant (just genuinely curious), but is there a chance your child will outgrow the allergies by the time he becomes school aged in a few years? Or at least a reduced severity? It might not be so much if a deal breaker and you wont have to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS has severe food allergies and we currently live in DC. We are open to moving to VA or MD for him to attend public school but want to make sure they are equipped to handle his food allergies. Originally, we intended to try the DC charter school lottery for him but we are hearing of staffing issues with school nurses in DC. What have other folks done? What are the best public schools to attend with reasonable commuting time for parents into DC for full time jobs?

Brent Elementary on Capitol Hill is nut-free.

[Anonymous]

My DD is currently in 4th grade and has severe peanut and tree nut allergies (particularly pistachios and hazelnuts). She had a severe anaphylactic attack right before 3rd grade from eating candy made in a cross contaminated facility and almost died.

We are in FCPS and I am reasonably satisfied with how they have handled her allergies. She self carries two Auvi Qs and also has two with the nurse. The nurse has many, many other kids who need EpiPens or Auvi Qs and is trained to use them. The school has an allergy protocol that includes emergency response by the nurse.

As you might expect, there are other kids with peanut and tree nut allergies. If allergies are severe, the teacher asks students not to bring food containing peanuts or tree nuts. I am not sure how vigorous enforcement of this is. There is a nut free table in the cafeteria -- however, there does not seem to be any adult enforcement of this rule, and kids at the surrounding tables frequently have PB and Nutella. The nut free table reportedly disappears entirely in middle school, which concerns me.

There appears to be minimal enforcement on field trips, which also concerns me. We have a field trip to Jamestown coming up, and the school will serve PB sandwiches at lunch. Kids can eat snacks on the bus, and we have no guarantee that these will be peanut or nut free. It also concerns me that kids may be with chaperones who are not trained to use EpiPens -- so, of course, DH or I have to take off work to go.

[Anonymous]

OP, in case it's helpful, my son's allergist has a much more optimistic view of how much better schools are handling allergies than in the past. He said that in his experience, most of his patients' accidental exposures don't come at schools or camps, because they're much more diligent than other settings (home, family or friend's houses).