General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Mom Demands School Go Peanut-Free For Allergic Child [View all]gollygee
(22,336 posts)is that the school has a responsibility to accommodate disabilities. What I'm saying is that a) this isn't about the school accommodating but hundreds of other people accommodating and those hundreds of other people don't have that responsibility and are unlikely to really do it; and b) that the school can possibly create a safer environment by creating zones they can actually control by people who are actually trained.
That's how it's done in my older child's school. There's a section of the cafeteria that is peanut and tree nut free, and you have to have your lunch poked through to sit there. Kids without allergies can and do sit there if they want to sit with allergic friends, but they have to either have school lunch, or have their lunches poked through by people who are trained and very careful. And then some classrooms are nut free and in those classes the school provides snack, and kids are not allowed to bring in any outside food. And every single child files past sinks and washes their hands after lunch and before going in the playground. (It helps that this is a new school and was built with sinks on the way out from the lunch room.)
Making the whole school supposedly, but not really, peanut free, is more about keeping the parents of the allergic kids quiet than actually providing safety. There are things schools can do to create a truly safe setting, but that isn't it.