Illinois State Board of Education Publishes Food Allergy Guidelines!

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Thanks to the Mothers of Children Having Allergies (MOCHA) group for the following update!

Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), has released the Guidelines for Managing Life-Threatening Food Allergies in Illinois Schools.

According to State Law, each local school board is required to have a policy based on these guidelines in place by Januray 2011- a sample policy based on these guidelines will be made available to all school districts in August. With any luck, the school boards will simply adopt the recommended sample policy- this is the expectation.

The guidelines and associated forms are available online at: http://www.isbe.net/nutrition/htmls/food_allergy_guidelines.htm The sample policy will be available to member school districts and to any non-member school district that requests a copy.

Even if you don't live in Illinois, this can be an excellent starting point as your food-allergic child prepares to enter the school system. If your school administrators feel uncomfortable with developing their own policy for protecting children with life-threatening food allergies, they may be able to request a copy if ISBE's policy to implement.

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