By Carol Martin SooToday.com Wednesday, October 12,
2005
The
Algoma District School Board has decided to get cracking.
On
peanuts.
At a meeting last night of the Algoma District
School Board, Superintendent Pam Cooper talked about the board's new
policy on anaphylactic shock treatment and
prevention.
Although local public schools have had procedures
on managing severe allergic reactions since November 2001, the board
wants to be proactive before Sabrina's Law comes into effect next
year.
Named after Sabrina Shannon, a 13-year-old who died in
September 2003, after eating french fries contaminated with a dairy
product at her school cafeteria in Pembroke, Ontario, the law
requires all Ontario boards to protect severely allergic pupils with
a policy by January 2006.
Cooper says a new policy passed by
the board last night will meet requirements of Sabrina's Law and
strengthen the board's existing procedural guidelines on treatment
and prevention of anaphylaxic shock.
One of the most common
triggers of anaphylactic reactions in school children is peanut
allergy, she said.
"It is very difficult to make a school in
a public place truly peanut free," Cooper told the board. "But what
we can and have done is to make some of our schools very
peanut-educated and peanut-vigilant."
She related a story of
a family who transferred into the area this fall.
"The mom
called Parkland Elementary School with some very deep concerns about
her daughter’s welfare," Cooper said. "She wanted absolute
assurances that there would be no peanuts in the school because her
daughter is very severely allergic."
"Our principal at that
school sent home notices and information packages and within four
days they had all come back. The response from parents of other
pupils in the school as overwhelmingly supportive and this family
appreciated it very much."
Cooper said that any schools with
pupils who've been identified at risk of anaphylactic reactions to
peanuts must undertake a special program to educate the parents of
other pupils in the school.
Information packages are sent
home, telling parents about alternatives to peanut products that are
similar in cost and nutrition.
They also send home forms for
parents to fill out, sign and return. indicating that they're aware
there's a student at risk of severe allergic reactions to peanut
products at their child's school and that they agree to be peanut
vigilant for the safety of that child.
Other possible
allergens such as bee or wasp stings and nut allergies are also
covered in the board's new comprehensive policy, said
Cooper.
The policy encourages families of children with
severe allergies to stay closely involved in management of their
children’s conditions through agreements with the board, said
Cooper.
It also enables schools to yearly train all staff
concerned on the use of EpiPens and procedure during an anaphylactic
reaction, she said.
The
Algoma District School Board has decided to get cracking. 
