At its May 9, 2018, meeting, the board heard a report from the District 15 Severe Allergy Task Force regarding recommendations to improve practices to keep students safe at school.

The task force was created this year, and chaired by parent Dave Barnett, who is the father of a child with severe allergies. Members of the committee include parents, teachers, administrators, nurses and members of the district's Nutrition Services and Transportation teams.

A review of the district food allergy guidelines shows district procedures align with state recommendations. Instead of changing our policies and procedures around this topic, the committee is recommending heightened awareness paired with thoughtful guidelines to improve safety and inclusion of students with severe allergies. 

The recommendations were broken into three parts:

1. Increase staff, student and community awareness about the seriousness of life-threatening allergies;
2. Simplify and improve accessibility of our district guideline documentation; and
3. Enhance our current guidelines to include specific measures to address the social-emotional needs of students with life-threatening allergies while enhancing safety.

The committee will continue to meet and shift its focus to execution of the plan and continuous learning and improvement. Read the full FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS – SAFETY FOR ALL plan.