THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2008
Parents Want In On Food Policy
By TOM ROBB
Journal Reporter
Parents Cynthia Jones and Dr. Regina Gomez are calling for parental involvement in the creation of a new food policy in Arlington Heights Elementary School Dist. 25.
They called for a committee that includes parents and members of the community in formulating the new policy and criticized a district authored draft as a dangerous tool for the district to absolve itself of responsibility.
District officials sent a new draft food policy to parents on Wednesday, Mar. 26. Any input from parents was to be turned in to district offices by Tuesday, Apr. 15.
The two parents of children allergic allergic to peanuts did not wait for the deadline to speak out against the draft policy. They addressed Dist. 25 school board at a meeting on Thursday, Apr. 10.
At the meeting Gomez told the board, "There is a vast and possibly dangerous difference between the current policy that states, 'our program does not serve food containing peanuts' versus the revised version and the draft resource guide."
Language in the draft would change the district's policy against serving peanuts and would place more responsibility on children for their own medications and knowledge of foods being served.
New school board President David Page assumed leadership of the board at Thursday's meeting but would not comment on the draft policy. He said a committee of district staff is drafting the policy.
Page said he was not familiar enough with the draft policy to comment, as is still a work in progress. He addressed the call for a community committee.
"We're getting their (parents') opinion through this process," said Page. "I believe we've done it responsibly." Page said the new policy would be considered at the board's May meeting.
District officials denied a Freedom of Information request by the Journal and Topics Newspaper for the draft that was sent to the parents. In a letter to the Journal, Jerome said the document was only a draft and therefore exempt from the law.
The Journal obtained a copy of the draft policy from a parent.
The food policy is being changed in the wake of charges by Jones and Gomez and their husbands Dr. Eric Gomez and Denis Jones, that the district has endangered their childrens' lives by, not only exposing their children to peanuts on several occasions, but changing the district's policy in closed session to allow the district to serve peanuts on its a la carte menu in seeming contradiction of its own stated policy.
School Supt. Sarah Jerome acknowledged several incidents in which peanuts were exposed to the children. In one incident cereal containing peanuts was served on the regular food line.
Gomez and Jones claim it stayed on the line for several days after they informed Jerome. In another incident a kindergartener was exposed to peanuts during a classroom activity and suffered a reaction.
Gomez, a physician with the DuPage County Department of Public Health and a Fellow at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights was able to quickly diagnose her daughter's condition but feared what might have happened if she had not received immediate diagnosis and treatment.
In another incident a peanut was found in a pasta dish by a child. District officials said the peanut could have come from another child and said they "could not trust the (food) labels."
Jerome said disciplinary action was taken in the cereal incident at a closed session meeting of the school board.
She said the kindergarten teacher that used food causing the reaction was new and policies have since been clarified.
Jerome made the admissions after Mr. Jones initially contacted the Journal. Page praised Jerome's handling of the controversy.
"I think she has dealt with things in a professional manor having many discussions with the Jones'," said Page. He said Jerome "hasn't brushed them off" and has kept the board informed.
Jerome stopped returning calls for comment both before and after the latest school board meeting since the Journal's first story.