By Kara Kratcha

Globe Editor

As summer comes to a close, Clayton students have been receiving oodles of mail from the Clayton School District. One such letter, conspicuously addressed to School District of Clayton Family, contains a letter about the district’s new Food Allergy Management Policy.
Parents have raised concerns about rising numbers of nut allergy cases to the school board, and a new Missouri House bill requires all school districts to have a written policy concerning potentially fatal allergies.
A committee comprised of two parents from each Clayton school, coordinating nurse Dede Coughlin, the district attorney, and school board member Dr. Sharmon Wilkonson, proposed Clayton’s written allergy policy. The proposal was then submitted to the school board, which passed the proposal as school policy with a few minor adjustments. The new policy goes into effect this school year.
Nut products (including but not limited to peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, and walnuts) are no longer allowed in classrooms across the Clayton district, and no nut products will be prepared and served in Clayton cafeterias.  Students in Kindergarten through second grade may not have nut products in their lunches. All grade levels up through middle school will have a designated nut-free table. The CHS cafeteria may only sell nut products if they are individually wrapped and clearly labeled.
Such a policy may be hard to enforce, however. The writers of the policy will rely on parents to help keep students, especially elementary-aged students, safe by complying.
“I think the first hope is that people will understand the need for the policy and follow it,” Coughlin said. “We’re not going to go through kids’ lunches.”
The committee also worked to make the different safety measures at each school developmentally appropriate. The restrictions on nut products at CHS are fewer than those at the elementary schools and Wydown in order to give older students a greater responsibility for their own health.

While CHS students and staff may bring peanuts or tree nuts in their lunches or for snacks, all such products must be consumed in the Commons.  No items containing peanut butter (such as Reese’s or Snickers) can be consumed in any classroom or at teachers’ desks.

High school students should be aware and mature enough to self-manage their allergy,” Coughlin said. “You don’t grow out of this allergy.”
Without nuts products, particularly peanut butter, as a source of quick and easy protein, parents of young, picky students may have a harder time finding something to pack in lunches. Coughlin thinks the safety hazards outweigh the inconvenience.
“We knew when we made this policy that some people would have a problem,” Coughlin said. “Peanut butter is a staple, but there’s a difference between a kid who doesn’t want to eat anything else and a kid who can’t eat [nut products].”
As far as new sources of vegetarian protein to be served in Clayton cafeterias, Coughlin said that the district has to give the policy a test year.
“If that becomes an issue,” Coughlin said. “I think that we will need to look into soy butter or something like that.”
For now, however, students will have to make do with the minimal changes the Clayton district’s new written allergy response policy has instated. The district hopes that with everyone’s participation, students with life-threatening allergies can be kept safer at school.