Northwest Iowa — Food allergies among students are becoming more of a concern for area school districts. One area school district has just enacted a policy banning food from school buses due to food allergies.
Of the public school districts that responded to an impromptu survey initiated by KIWA, three out of ten schools that responded have policies that prohibit food on district buses. Sibley-Ocheyedan School Superintended Bill Boer sent the notice that they have just banned food on buses. The Sioux Center Community School District has a policy of no eating or drinking on school buses, and that policy has been in effect for a couple of years. At West Lyon, elementary principal Tim Snyder tells us they do have a similar rule in effect, but it doesn’t affect all buses at all times.
But Snyder does say that the number of food allergies among their students is certainly on the rise. He says that this year they have about 30 more students who have food allergies or sensitivities.
Snyder says in fact, that they’ve hired a full-time staff person just to handle issues of food allergies and sensitivities among their students.
Even among districts that have not enacted a policy banning food on school buses, there is some concern. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn does not have such a policy but they often remind parents of the fact that some students have peanut allergies and how to avoid issues. Sheldon Superintendent Robin Spears says they don’t have much food on buses, and have not seen an issue with food allergies on the buses, but may consider a policy if it becomes an issue. Central Lyon 7-12 principal Jason Engleman says allergies are closely monitored, but at this time they have had no issues with food on buses except for the normal garbage issues. He says they have a special fruit program that provides fruit through a Lyon County Riverboat Foundation grant, and due to potential litter issues, students are told not to eat the fruit on the bus.
Other districts where we were told that no policy exists banning food on buses include South O’Brien, Harris-Lake Park, MOC/Floyd Valley, and West Sioux.
We also inquired if such a policy existed at George/Little Rock, Boyden-Hull, and Rock Valley, but our calls to school staff in those districts have not yet been returned.
According to the website, foodallergy.org, there are up to 15-million Americans who have food allergies, including 5.9-million children under age 18. That’s 1 in 13 children, or roughly two in every classroom. That site says about 30-percent of children with food allergies are allergic to more than one food.
