A 6-year-old girl at a school in Florida has a peanut allergy so severe that she could have a reaction if she were to breath traces of nut dust in the air. Her elementary school in Edgewater, Fl., has taken extraordinary measures to accommodate her.
All students are now required to wash their hands and rinse out their mouths before stepping inside the classroom. Desks must be regularly wiped down with Clorox wipes. School administrators have banned all peanut products and snacks are no longer allowed in the class. Earlier this month, a peanut-sniffing dog walked through the school to make sure everyone is following the rules.
The school is legally obligated to take these safety precautions because of the Federal Disabilities Act, according to Nancy Wait, the the spokeswoman for Volusia County Schools.
"It would be the same thing as putting a handicap ramp for a student that is physically disabled. The only difference with this is that is affects other students," Wait told FoxNews.com.
A group of parents are outraged by the new requirements and protested outside the school holding signs emblazoned with phrases expressing their frustration: "What's next? Where does this end?" Parents feel that the new requirements are taking up to 30 minute out of the students' school day. They are asking the district to require that the girl with the allergies be home-schooled.
The girl and her family are deeply hurt by the protests. "We've fought very hard to put certain things in place to keep her alive in school," David Bailey, the father of the student with the allergy, told My Fox Orlando. "She's already a cast-out. She can't do most things kids can do."
As sad as it is for an otherwise normal girl to not be able to live a normal life, frankly, with such a severe allergy she would be better off in a special needs school, or home school, where the risk can be better managed. I mean, this is crazy, the entire school doing this. All you need is one kid to get fed up and bring a PB&J sandwich in, unnoticed, and shes a goner. Why would you, as a parent, take that risk?
This is the second protest that we've had here in CF this year ... the other being a young boy. In that case the mother of the boy yelled at the other mothers telling them they should be ashamed of themselves. That didn't go over well with the protestors.
I can see both sides in this case but ultimately it is the other kids who are "inconvenienced" and the allergic child who is singled out as the pariah. I have to wonder what is in everyone's best interest ... keep the kid at home (home schooled) until they out-grow their allergy, hold a special class in a "clean" room for these kids ... or continue the status-quo?
if her allergy is that bad then she should be home schooled or sent to a school for kids with peanut allergies.
yes it sucks for her but inconveniencing an entire class/school for the needs of 1 is wrong. and its nothing like a wheelchair ramp
They should be ashamed of their behaviors! There is a place to air grievances & ask for changes in school policies, that place is at school board meetings, not standing in front of a school making a small child & their family feel like lepers!
The rules this school has put in place involve cleanliness .. getting kids in the habit of frequent hand washing, having desks/surfaces where kids work cleaned daily, these measures will benefit everybody in terms of reductions in school acquired illness,not just the allergic child.
This is the second protest that we've had here in CF this year ... the other being a young boy. In that case the mother of the boy yelled at the other mothers telling them they should be ashamed of themselves. That didn't go over well with the protestors.
I can see both sides in this case but ultimately it is the other kids who are "inconvenienced" and the allergic child who is singled out as the pariah. I have to wonder what is in everyone's best interest ... keep the kid at home (home schooled) until they out-grow their allergy, hold a special class in a "clean" room for these kids ... or continue the status-quo?
Coming from a person who does not like peanuts, IDGAF.
30 minutes a day for the wipe down, etc.? Hey, at least you know the classroom is hella clean. I honestly don't have an opinion on whether or not she should be homeschooled, but the protesters are fucking retarded. Grow up.
The same people who stand in front of schools picketing & humiliating a 6 yr old are usually the same people who vote down any tax measure to fund things like special needs education. Home schooling will require the district to provide an actual teacher on a regular basis.
They should be ashamed of their behaviors! There is a place to air grievances & ask for changes in school policies, that place is at school board meetings, not standing in front of a school making a small child & their family feel like lepers!
The rules this school has put in place involve cleanliness .. getting kids in the habit of frequent hand washing, having desks/surfaces where kids work cleaned daily, these measures will benefit everybody in terms of reductions in school acquired illness,not just the allergic child.
The same people who stand in front of schools picketing & humiliating a 6 yr old are usually the same people who vote down any tax measure to fund things like special needs education. Home schooling will require the district to provide an actual teacher on a regular basis.
They should be ashamed of their behaviors! There is a place to air grievances & ask for changes in school policies, that place is at school board meetings, not standing in front of a school making a small child & their family feel like lepers!
The rules this school has put in place involve cleanliness .. getting kids in the habit of frequent hand washing, having desks/surfaces where kids work cleaned daily, these measures will benefit everybody in terms of reductions in school acquired illness,not just the allergic child.