Home baked goods allowed at school?

[Liisa]

Does your child's school allow home baked goods to be brought in to share with the class? If so, are there any restrictions (other than nuts/peanut butter)? Do they still have bake sales/cake walks?

[mum_of_four]

For nursery school, "not really" (although I did sneak in some home made bread). Although, to be fair, there is a child with a peanut allergy in the class so they like to have the packaging right there to see if it says "may contain peanuts".

For JK/SK - yes! I think the nut/peanut-free rule still appllies (I think that is pretty universal now) but they can take in home made stuff for sharing - only on birthdays though.

[amyunicorn]

We are allowed to bring in homemade goodies for birthday celebrations, and we do not have any nut restrictions as there are not any children enrolled in the school with allergies, at this time. My children can take pb sandwiches for lunch/snack! Hurray!

[TwinsPlusOne]

My boys are allowed however there is someone in the class with egg allergies so the parents have asked that if we are bringing something in to let the teacher know so they can send something in special for their little one. (Her allergy must not be severe then if not ingested).

Laura

[mommytotwo]

we aren't allowed to send anything to share with the class and what we do send for our child must be peanut free and they also encourage choclate and marshmellow free as well. i do not know about bake sales as she is in jk and nothing has come yet. for halloween they are sending home a special treat bag where you send a peanut free treat for your child

[momof2and2]

We are allowed, they suggest nut/peanut free..But we send reg. cupcakes and things but always send raisins or other snacks for the allergy students. So everyone gets a treat.

We no longer send "treats" because our birthdays fall on christmas break and summer break...And its getting harder with allergies..This year we have peanuts, flour, milk, egg and a few others that are not coming to mind right now. This week for halloween I will send with my 3 a treat bag for each of their classes that has pencils, erasers(halloween themed) & a mini-playdoh.

We just had our annual fun fair and they had a large bake sale section...with everything from rice krispie squares, to peanut bars.

[one ordinary girl]

We can take stuff in. It of course has to be peanut/nut free. My dd has a nut allergy, The whole school is peanut/nut free. She discourages cupcakes since they are kind of messy. So for spec occas,. most parents tend to send in rice crispies. We are actually going to bake some cookies for Camryn to take in this Friday for her b-day( it's on sat)

[Liisa]

Thanks, ladies. I was just curious b/c I am getting conflicting info from my son's school regarding this matter. I sent some pumpkin cookies in for my son's class (in which there are no food allergies) and they were sent back home with a note from the principal attached stating home baked goods were not allowed. The teacher, on the other hand, stated that it should be okay if I attached a copy of the recipe.

Ofcourse everything I send is nut-product free, and I have no problem attaching a copy of the recipe. But before I head in to straighten out this matter, I thought I'd check in with you ladies and see where other schools stand on the issue. I even checked out the tvdsb website to see where the schoolboard stands on it, and it seems to be a matter of "discourage but don't disallow". So on that note, I plan to stand up for my right to bring in peanut product-free baked goods for my son's class to enjoy when the teacher will allow!

[Liisa]

Well, since I started this, I thought I'd update. I had my meeting with the principal today, and it turns out I was not the only one confused about this, as he was overwhelmed with parents and teachers alike asking about the issue (he is new here). Turns out the note attached was from the teacher, not the principal (she failed to tell me that ), and she had taken something out of context from a note meant for teachers and copied it back to me.

Apparently, recently two parents showed up on different occasions with class treats that contained nuts/peanut oil, stating they were unaware they couldn't bring it in (despite a newsletter sent home with a clear list of items to avoid) and the school felt a need to increase the limiting of homebaked goods for the safety of those with the allergy.

Now, any baked goods brought to the school for sharing must be presented at the office first, with the complete recipe, even if it is to go to a class where there is no student with the allergy.

All of this is fine with me, I just wanted clarification on the matter. I was shocked that some parents would still try to bring in food containing nuts/nut products.

I looked at the tvdsb website, and it's policy is that no particular food item can be "banned" from the school, but that the school can ask for parents' "cooperation" in keeping the school safe for children with allergies.

[one ordinary girl]

***quote***: I was shocked that some parents would still try to bring in food containing nuts/nut products. ***quote****

This happened in my dd's class last year at christmas a parent sent in beer nuts for decorating their gingerbread houses. My dd is severly allergic to nuts. the beer nuts were divided up and given to all kids in the class. It wasn't until this was done that the teacher became aware the nuts were present. ( a parent volunteer divided the candies) So after this was noticed a separate dish was put out for my dd. Well the during the decorating the class was permitted to eat 2 candies from their dishes. Well I happened to be present during the decorating when i noticed my dd had nuts in her dish. I almost lost it. What if she had eaten the candy that contained the peanut??? A note was sent home at the beginning of school stating it is a nut free environment. Yet parents still sent in nuts. The teacher didn't appear at all concerned about the matter and this upset me even further. I requested she resend the note about no peanuts/nuts being allowed. Ever since then i have sent in her own special snack for occasions. And the teacher no longer gives my dd the special treats sent in if she isn't sure of their content and keeps special things on hand for her. It's a constant worry for me now. It amazes me aswell that some parents just don't understand the dangers involved in sending in products thaty may potenetially be harmful to some children. It isn't that hard to find nutfree products anymore. Reading of labels isn't all that difficult. Opps sorry I kind of went on there.

[Liisa]

Completely understandable response, Jenn. That teacher should have removed ALL those nuts from the class as soon as they were noticed!