Children all over Stapleton suffer from a variety of food allergies including peanut butter, milk, shellfish, tree nuts, egg, fin fish, strawberry, and soy. These allergies affect roughly 4% of all children. Because of this high percentage, schools need to take precautions to make sure this group of kids is not exposed to the items they are allergic to. The schools alone can only do so much.
“We make sure to have a list of kids that have allergies, and what those are,” said Swigert Elementary Principal Vogel. “The lists are given to the teachers as well as any after care providers. Also, we are careful to make sure that we have the appropriate options in the school lunches.”
Parents that have children in classes with kids with allergies are also given the names of the kids and their allergies. “This helps parents be aware so that if they send birthday snacks, they can send something different for those kids if necessary,” says Vogel. Many parents feel that all of these precautions should be enough. “I feel like it is a little overboard, but obviously, the safety of the children comes first,” says Stapleton parent Sue Fisher. “I think all the steps they have taken should be enough.”
Not all Stapleton parents agreed, and thought that more could be done. “I don’t even have a child with an allergy,” says resident Kaylee Law. “But, I just care about these kids so damn much, I want to make sure that they are okay.” Law began a grass roots effort to ban all outside snacks, except for a short list of snacks that would be okay for all students to have without any dangers. “We worked with the schools, and did our research,” says Law. “Eventually, we came up with a list that we think everyone is going to be happy with.”
Because of the concern for child safety, the new approved snack list met with very little resistance. “In the end, this is really not the fight you want to make,” says Fisher. “I don’t think it was necessary, and the schools will certainly have a lot of unhappy kids, but I guess better safe than sorry.” Some of the approved items are listed below, and the full list can be found at any of the Stapleton schools web sites.
Approved Stapleton School Snacks
- Unflavored rice cakes
- Unsalted crackers
- Plain bread
- Rice Crispies cereal (no milk or sugar)
- Ice cubes