Seneca Valley Officials to Consider Revised Wellness, Allergy Policies

officials will give more thought to food in the next week.

School board members on Monday will vote on whether to approve the second readingThey also will vote on whether to approve a revised first reading for the district’s new student wellness policy.

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In a 5-4 votes, school board members in February rejected the first reading of the revamped wellness policy, which would have forbidden students from bringing treats and other foods into the classroom for birthday celebrations.

The policy also would have eliminated “competitive foods” given to students by teachers as a reward for good behavior or for answering a question correctly. The current policy, which was put into place in 2006, already discourages competitive foods, but does not prohibit them.

After a meeting with members of the wellness committee, which is composed of teachers, parents and district administrators, the board revised the policy to state that food may be used as reward if it encourages a positive nutrition message.

As for birthday treats, school board Vice President Eric Gordon said children would still have “food parties” at least three times a year for Halloween, Valentine's Day and Christmas celebrations, as well as on a case-by-case basis where parents provide treats for the classroom.

For each party, a food list will be developed and approved by the building principal to ensure that it meets the guidelines established in the allergy and wellness policies, Gordon said.

There also will be non-food birthday celebrations in the classrooms under the revised policy. Some of the special recognition could include non-edible gifts, such as books or games, lunch with a special guest, or positive peer comments about the students in cards or letters.

Instituting an Allergy Policy

School board members also last month approved the first steps toward a new allergy policy. Assistant Superintendent Jeffrey Fuller said the district does not have an official policy in place for students with severe food allergies. The proposed policy would follow the state’s recommended guidelines for managing food allergies in school, he said.

The policy has been reworded from “food allergy management” to "allergy management" to encompass a district-wide guide for handling all allergies, and not just those related to food.  

Fuller said the district has 193 confirmed cases of students and staff with life-threatening food allergies, mostly to nuts. The policy would outline a consistent plan of action for staff in case of a medical emergency related to food allergies and provide other guidelines. All classrooms would be identified as “allergen protected.”

School board member Eric DiTullio has already said that he would not be in favor of the new allergy policy because he feared having allergen-protected rooms may cause students and parents to have a “false sense of security.”

School board member James Welsh agreed and said he already has spoken to parents who said they would not notify the district of their child’s allergies if the policy is put into place because they would assume the schools already were taking measures to prevent any issues.

School board President Robert Hill noted that the goal of the allergy policy was to provide guidelines for the staff to follow that in turn would help to keep the students safe. School board member Jason Wehrle added that following the guidelines were worthwhile if they led to protecting even just one student.

“I really haven’t heard anyone tell me why the reasons they’ve thrown out there are more important than the lives of any of these kids,” he said.

There will be three readings of each policy. If officials approve a third reading of the guidelines, the revisions then would become district policy.

If approved, both the updated wellness policy and the new allergy policy would be in place in time for the 2012-13 school year, Fuller said.

The next school board meeting will be held at 8 p.m Monday in the