THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2008
Chew On This
New Dist. 25 Food Policies Up For Discussion, But Parent Remains Skeptical
By TOM ROBB
Journal Reporter
The Arlington Heights Elementary School Dist. 25 board will consider new policies regarding food service in the district and a resource guide for supporting students with life threatening allergies at tonight's (Thursday, May 7) school board meeting.
Parents and the Illinois State Board of Education have criticized the school district for its handling of food and health practices relating to students with life threatening allergies.
Dennis Jones, the parent of a Dist. 25 student with a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, has seen the draft and remains skeptical. Jones said the draft provides no accountability to a school district that he feels has violated its own policies on countless occasions. Jones takes issue with the proposed policy as it sets goals and guidelines and said it contains no accountability, no enforceability and provides no specifics for how to achieve those goals.
He said, and Dist. 25 documents confirm, that the district was in violation of its own policies on many occasions.
Jones filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking documentation of purchase orders and food delivery records relating to food containing peanuts, with warnings it might contain peanuts or might be produced on machines that might also process peanuts.
The school policy states that due to increased allergy risks the district does not serve food containing peanuts.
In an e-mail sent to Jones by the district's food service director in May 2007 the district told Jones it does not purchase any foods containing peanuts.
Last February, the Dist. 25 school board notified Jones that the district might serve nuts in its a la carte line after reinterpreting their rules in a closed session of the Dist. 25 school board.
In Supt. Dr. Sarah Jerome's response to Jones' FOIA request, she told Jones she was able to provide "usage reports" totaling 282 pages relating to food served in the district that may contain or be contaminated by peanuts in a period from September 2006 to the present.
Jones had other issues with the draft policy.
He said the document encourages students to "self advocate." Jones asked rhetorically if a first grade student could even understand what "self advocate" means.
Jones is in the process of forging an agreement with the school district under section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act and other provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
He said under section 504 a child with a severe peanut allergy is considered handicapped under the law. As such an accommodation plan, enforceable by federal mandate, is created for the student by the school.
Jones said using this tool may provide the teeth that he said the draft policy is lacking. He was made aware of this after U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's staffers put him into touch with officials from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Kirk and Jones met after he testified before a hearing if an audit committee of the State Board of Education last March. At that meeting, a written statement was also provided by Dr. Eric Gomez and Dr. Regina Gomez, parents of a Dist. 25 student who, in kindergarten, was exposed to peanuts in the classroom and had an allergic reaction.
Both Gomez's are physicians.
Jones became aware of issues with food and the district early in 2007 when his child was told the district could not guarantee food was safe from contamination from peanuts.
The Journal has made repeated attempts to contact Dr. Jerome for this and previous stories, as well as School Board President David Page, and has only reached each official once in that time.
A past Freedom of Information Act request for the draft policy was also denied. The Journal was able to acquire documents from concerned parents.
Calls for this story were not returned.