Good morning to all parents of Mrs. Preciado's first grade class,

Before Spring Break, on Tuesday March 27th, one of our worst nightmares as parents became a reality, when Matthew had an allergic/anaphylactic episode during lunch time, which required that his Epi-pen be used at school, followed by a trip to the emergency room. Matthew is known to have a severe contact/ingestion allergy with peanut/peanut butter residue.

We have been trying to narrow down the possible cause of this reaction, since Matthew does not bring food to school containing peanuts, and he does sit at an "allergy table" at lunch time. We were told by the school that the other children at that table on that day did not have any form of peanuts or peanut products in their lunches, either.

Since the reaction happened about 10 minutes into the lunch period, it is likely that Matthew could have been exposed to peanuts or peanut butter residue earlier in the school day, which naturally brings us to mid-morning snack time.

We have been asking the school's administration to help us in creating a peanut-free classroom to minimize the risk for Matthew, as much as possible, but thus far they are unwilling to make such a change, and instead are only offering to further isolate Matthew during snack-time and the free time that immediately follows. What is most important for us as parents is creating the safest possible environment in the classroom for our son, without having him feel ostracized or isolated. He already feels this way at lunchtime with the current school procedure. Please help us to have 1-P designated as a Peanut-Free Classroom, to help further minimize unknown variables going forward that could cause a repeat of this life-and-death issue for Matthew.

Please consider signing this online petition showing your support in making the 1-P classroom PEANUT-FREE! (Note, at this time, this is not about the food packed for your child intended for lunch, as that would stay inside lunch containers and not be opened within the classroom.) One signature per family is more than enough! Feel free to leave comments if you wish.

We brought the incident to the attention of the Board of Education on March 29th, and they agreed to review the language of the current allergy policy in the district for their next meeting.

Thank you for your time this morning, as this this topic is very near and dear to our hearts, as is our son.

Best Regards,

Andrew & Andrea Gerstmayr

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