Mother urges all schools to go peanut-free

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

What could be scarier than parents sending a daughter off to elementary school every morning, wondering if she will be safe all day and come home happy or if she will get so sick so suddenly her life could be in dire jeopardy?

That’s the anxieties faced by Jamie and Odin Waite of Sartell whose daughter, Kaylee, suffers from an allergy to peanuts. She is also allergic to milk, though the peanut allergy is far more dangerous. Kaylee is a kindergartner this year at Pine Meadow Elementary School.

Her parents are trying their best to convince everyone in the school to make it a nut-free environment. Even aerosolized, invisible chemicals from peanuts can set off severe allergenic reactions to some with peanut allergies, including Kaylee.

One day, during an orientation session at PME, Jamie brought Kaylee. While in the lunch room, Jamie asked the staff if any of the foods they make contain peanuts. The staff, she recalled, did not know for sure. It was only minutes later Kaylee’s throat began feeling scratchy and tightening up. Her stomach began hurting, she broke out in hives and then she vomited in the lunchroom. Hurrying from the building, Jamie and Kaylee headed for home, and on the way she vomited several more times.

As it turned out, a boy sitting not far from Kaylee had been eating a personal snack containing peanuts.

On a mission to protect her daughter, Jamie has met with the school board and explained to them the ubiquitous danger of peanuts or tree-type nuts in a school environment. She has corresponded via email with District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Schwiebert; she has met with the district’s Food Services Director Brenda Braulick. She’s also met with teachers, staff and presented a letter from her family doctors about the extreme dangers of peanut allergies.

School officials are contacting other districts, other schools, to see how they handle food allergies. They hope to fine-tune the Sartell-St. Stephen policy to make the schools as safe as possible.

Educating school administration and staff, as well as all parents, is the best weapon in protecting those with peanut allergies, Jamie strongly believes.

To that effect, PME Principal Sara Nelson wrote a notice to all parents to please refrain from sending any peanut-related foods or snacks to school with their children. Food labels should be read carefully because many foods contain traces of peanuts and most people would never think so.

Jamie happened to meet parents of other children in the district who suffer from food allergies. She’s heard of at least three other children who have peanut allergies and who go to Sartell schools.

When it comes to such allergies, even cross-contamination of the slightest peanut matter can set off acute allergenic reactions. That is why Jamie wants the entire school district to go “Peanut-Free.” Peanut-butter sandwiches are banned from PME, and that is a good start, Jamie said, though she said she thinks it should be extended to all schools in the district and more should be done to make schools totally nut-free.

Peanuts are legumes that grow in the ground. Other types of nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds and more) grow on trees. All can cause allergies in some people, though peanut allergies are by far the most dangerous.

“Everybody I’ve met has been so supportive, even since we started fighting for this last March,” she said. “But it’s still so frustrating. We are just trying to help. Not just for Kaylee but all students. We have progressive schools in Sartell, so why not jump on this and make them all nut-free?”

Kaylee’s classroom, with teacher Amy Moe, has been declared peanut-free with a poster of a peanut with a red line through it. Jamie is happy about that, but she also knows, of course, Kaylee will be in other parts of the school on a daily basis.

Jamie said she feels some officials in the school district are slow to react to peanut allergies and other food allergies, and scores of students – as many as 100, she added – have some form of food allergies.

Kaylee’s allergy necessitates constant vigilance by her parents. There are certain places, such as many restaurants or other food places, they cannot bring Kaylee. Her brother, Alex, 4, fortunately does not have the allergy.

“To say I am terrified of sending Kaylee to school is an understatement,” Jamie said.

At school, there are EpiPens for Kaylee that can be administered by a nurse if an allergenic reaction occurs. EpiPen is the brand name of an epinephrine auto-injector that can arrest the kinds of quick symptoms that can be fatal to allergy sufferers. They are the same kinds of injector pens carried by people who are severely allergic to bee stings.

The Waite family moved to Sartell about a year ago from Miami because of a job opportunity. Odin is employed by Central Lakes Oral and Facial Surgery. Jamie worked as a biochemist for eight years. She has a master’s degree in biochemistry and also a master’s degree in accounting.

Odin and Jamie grew up in Wisconsin – he in Green Bay, she in Platteville near Madison.

They enjoy living in Sartell, but they will be even happier in the city if and when they and others can convince all schools to go totally nut-free.