Ridgewood Public Schools
Ridgewood Early Development Program

Important Information - Updated Food Allergy Guidelines

There are a number of Glen School children with serious, life threatening allergies.  A child with an allergy can suffer a life-threatening, anaphylactic reaction by ingesting a food containing ingredients to which they are allergic.  Accordingly, food may only be brought into our school / classroom space for lunch, snack, birthday or special event celebrations.  The contents of such foods must comply with the limitations set out in this guideline.  Please be sensitive to the needs of all of the children in your child's class.  We appreciate all of the parents' understanding and compliance with these critically important guidelines.  These guidelines were compiled by Karen Price, Program Coordinator and have been reviewed and approved by Dr. Wayne Yankus, who is our district physician.

As per Dr. Yankus, "According to the current recommendations of The American Academy of Pediatrics and The Food and Allergy Network," our schools should not, in fact, be peanut free."  However, there are accommodations made for those children with life threatening allergies to specific foods.  Due to the nature of our classrooms / lunch environment, we continue to request that parents do not send any foods to school that contain peanuts, including, but not limited to: peanuts, peanut butter or baked goods containing peanuts or peanut flavoring.  Please check granola and similar snack bars, since many contain peanuts as ingredients.

Treats brought into the school by parents for special classroom / event occasions such as a birthday celebration, etc., will not be eaten by children who have documented food allergies.  Children who have food allergies will eat their own special snack provided by their parents.  If there is a celebration or a special pizza, ice-cream or other treat day, all parents will be notified in advance so that they may provide a special food for their child.  We can keep frozen special treats available for each child with allergies as well.  These treats must be clearly labeled with the child's name and indicate that they've been provided by the parent of the child.

• Any child with a note from a medical doctor documenting that a child has food allergies will not be provided with any food other than that which is provided by the parent.
• Parent notes are not accepted to permit a child with physician documented food allergies to have any food other than that which is provided by the parent.
• Acceptable notes permitting specific foods (for children with allergies) are from physicians only.  We only follow doctor's written orders.  If the doctor approves a certain restaurant, food company, etc., the parent is required to provide us with that note directly from the child's doctor.  Parent notes do not supersede a physician's note.

We will strive to do our best to provide reasonable accommodations for students with allergies.  It is our goal to provide each child with a safe educational environment.