As food allergies become more prevalent, high schools across the country are enforcing peanut and tree nut restrictive policies to ensure the safety of all students. At St. Paul Academy and Summit School, a similar policy has been instilled this year in an effort to keep students, faculty, and staff healthy.

“I’m really sad but I understand as to why because it’s life threatening,” sophomore Stephanie Li said. “It’s hard [to keep the school nut-safe] because a lot of things contain nuts.”
The policy was a collaborative effort, recognizing perspectives in and out of the building: “Some parents, families and their doctors were in communication with the school as we discussed our policy on nuts,” Upper School Principal Chris Hughes said.

This new policy, however, is not unique to SPA. The Lower School has had a tree nut/peanut policy in place for years, primarily in result to student allergies.
Although this policy is far from atypical, it is a significant change in an US with historic freedom around snacks consumed during the day.

“We based the decision on discussions with families, and allergists and physicians who treat some of our students. We looked at relevant research and recommendations from government sources such as the CDC [Centers for Disease Control],” Hughes said.

Along with these sources, other schools with a nut-policy in place in the Twin Cities area were consulted.

Hughes himself is allergic to fish, but says it’s different from an allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. “The problem with nut allergies is that [they’re] connected to the [peanut] oils, which can be a danger for contact as well as eating,” Hughes said. Peanut oils can be left on unwashed hands, stuck under nails or left on door knobs if not careful. In effect, SPA students have been asked to refrain from bringing any snacks containing nuts of any sort on campus as a safety precaution.

In establishing this new school-wide policy, two former staples have been removed from the dining hall- peanut butter and nutella. In place of peanut butter is sunbutter which is an alternative made of sunflower seeds.
However, Li believes that students should be understanding of this life-threatening condition.“I would feel a lot safer [if I had a nut allergy] and secure in a school without food containing nuts,” Li said.

Junior Lauren Woessner, who is severely allergic to nuts agrees.“I actually like [having the nut-policy] because I don’t have to worry about anything as much,” Woessner said.

Ultimately, the new Upper School peanut policy has created an environment in which students with severe nut allergies feel safe. Students are expected to be aware and respectful of the fact that this change isn’t unusual and helps make many people in the SPA safer than they would be otherwise.

“Even though there is no way for us to guarantee that our campus is nut-free (nor are we claiming to guarantee that), it is our responsibility to make our campus as safe as possible for all of our students,” Hughes said.

This article was originally published in the September 2014 Print issue of The Rubicon.  The story can be seen in its original form by clicking on the “In Print” tab or at ISSUU.com.