A note from the nurse!
Dear Parents,
With the increasing number of nut allergies in our school and the severity of them, we feel obligated to send a review of our nut policy. Nut allergies can develop at any time, and are life threatening to those who have them with the potential for death to occur within minutes. Anaphylactic (life threatening) reactions can occur without actual ingestion of nuts. We do have children who react to touch or smell as well. Please think of this when you are packing your child’s lunch, sending a snack for them to eat in class for the lower grades, or sending a birthday treat.
Snacks and treats are to be completely nut free. This means labels need to be read carefully, checking specifically for traces of nuts, or produced in a factory which processes products containing nuts as cross contamination can occur. NO BIRTHDAY TREATS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT LABELS! If you choose to make a treat for your child’s birthday, please cut the labels from boxes and icings to show they are nut free. Please note: Coconut is a tree nut and can cause reactions as well. Again, please consider non-food items such as special pencils as a gift from your child.
We know this is a lot to absorb and is added work for reading labels, but we must be diligent in this matter. We have added a list of products that are at this time considered safe for nuts to our wellness section of the St. Leo School web-site, but again labels need to be read carefully. Our children are a special gift from God, and it takes a village to raise and keep them as safe as possible. Thank you for being an active part of our village!
Jan Lipinsky, LPN