More Great School Resources

So School is going in full session, and I hope everyone is doing well with their school environments.  I had previously posted about resources for 504 plans here.  In that post I told everyone about the truly awesome Food Allergy Support Message boards, and their amazing resources for dealing with schools and 504  plans.  http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?page=Schools_MAIN

Since writing my previous post, it appears that these totally awesome people over at the Food Allergy Support Message boards have added even more great information to their School resources section.  The main page for resources is here.

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_board&board_id=27

Here are some of my recommendations to check out.

Dept. of Education, Office Civil Rights: State-by-state contact info

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=2739

This is an absolutely wonderful resource.  As the school year goes on, and you discover that your lovely school is not doing quite what they promised, here is how to go about contacting your local Office of Civil Rights to get their input on the situation.

Recent 504 impartial hearing ruling

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=1672

This is the results of an impartial 504 hearing as to whether a Student  was entitled to protection of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in a Connecticut School District.  In the end it was decided that a student who had a know allergy to tree nuts, peanuts, enviormental allergies and asthma was sufficiently impaired that this impairment did rise to the level that substantially impacts his major life abilities.

The above link has the entire decision, and it really is a must read for anyone embarking on a 504. 

USDA FNS Civil Rights Organization (CRO): state by state contact information

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=3020

The USDA Food and Nutrition Services administers the National School Lunch Program--a federally funded program. The have their own civil rights offices as well and those cool people over at the Food Allergy Support Message Boards have put it all out on the link above. 

Links to School Districts' Food Allergy Policies

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=4541

This link contains food allergy guidelines and policies already set up in schools throughout the country.  It is a great resource, but made me very mad to discover how few policies (none) our school district has.  This is a great resource to show your own school district though.

2008 ADA Amendment Now Law

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=6767

This link has the 2008 ADA Amendment act and the changes that have been put in place that are beneficial for those with life threatening food allergies.  The primary changes have to do with the definition of disability, under the ADA, and the entire changes are printed at the link above.

Thanks again to all you really great people over at the Food Allergy Support Boards.  In addition to having a great section on Schools, they have tons of other really useful message boards covering almost everything you can think of related to food allergies.