Another teacher facing firing

[Racket_Man]

THis one involves a teachers aid in a Hawain preschool. The aid has sever nasal allergies and brings in a bag lunch from home that includes organic foods.

It seems that the school requires the teachers to eat lunch with the students AND eat the EXACT same foods the students eat during the 30 minute lunch period. This is supposed to be so if the students have any questions about the food they are eating the teachers are right there and available to promptly answer.

If the teacher chooses to NOT eat the lunch room fare they are only given 10 minutes to eat during nap time or a short break what they brought in from home.

http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/pres...ity-right-rail

[Kheldarson]

This one...I think I'm going to have to side with the school.

Mostly because it's a private organization, and it sounds like that it's probably tied into the contract.

Plus, it's not that different from what normal schools do in terms of lunches. At the school I taught at, if I was on lunch duty, I probably wasn't eating until my planning periods. Why? Because I'm supposed to be paying attention to the kids. It's kinda part of the territory.

[Greenday]

Discriminating against medical issues is still illegal, private school or not. The school really doesn't have a leg to stand on at this point.

[Ginger Tea]

Note:
Just read the OP not the link, so ...

Are the meals she brings in allergen free, does this mean the food at school can cause her nasal allergies to flair up.

it just states organic, so s/he's got an organic fad going, unless processed food can trigger their and I say again nasal allergies.

I don't associate food and the nose outside of this smells good or bad, nasal allergies fall into hayfever and that's it, mind you my medical knowledge comes from Quincy and diagnosis murder, not actual medical research etc.

It may be a case of I'm bringing up an unrelated issue to cloud things and garner sympathy where none is deemed.
Now if it was Kosher or Halal meals she brought in and there was a chance that the meals served were not valid to her religion then that is totally different.

edit:
even after reading the article no real medical reasoning was brought up, just this

When Carissa Lee O'Connell's husband Rick began preparing organic home lunches for his wife four months ago, the goal was to improve her severe nasal allergies.

"Instantly the allergies went away, the colds disappeared and it's all from just eating raw, natural organic food," Rick O'Connell, 53, told KITV4

As it is not, that I can see, backed up by medical grounds, I am having a hard time seeing a definite case for her, it's like being on a gi diet (or whatever it is) not for health reasons but for shits and giggles.

[Nyoibo]

In a warning letter issued to Lee O'Connell on Monday, KCAA's Kuapa campus director Wendy Nishimura wrote the following: "Staff who choose not to eat the meals provided, may eat their own food during their break or after the meal service for the children is completed."

Lee O'Connell counters that a 10-minute break isn't always conducive to eating lunch, and she prefers the half-hour set aside by the school, which begins at 11:20 a.m.

Going to side with the school on this one, she's given other times she can eat, but "prefers" the lunch time the school has for the kids.

[Panacea]

Plus, it's not that different from what normal schools do in terms of lunches. At the school I taught at, if I was on lunch duty, I probably wasn't eating until my planning periods. Why? Because I'm supposed to be paying attention to the kids. It's kinda part of the territory.

That's an apples vs oranges comparison. In this case, the staff are REQUIRED to eat with the kids and to eat what they eat. The teacher's aide is not a teacher and doesn't have a planning period. She would like to eat with everyone else, and not be constrained to eating alone and rushed (10 minutes to eat. Please).

Are the meals she brings in allergen free, does this mean the food at school can cause her nasal allergies to flair up.

it just states organic, so s/he's got an organic fad going, unless processed food can trigger their and I say again nasal allergies.

I don't associate food and the nose outside of this smells good or bad, nasal allergies fall into hayfever and that's it, mind you my medical knowledge comes from Quincy and diagnosis murder, not actual medical research etc.

A lot of different things can cause histamine reactions, and one of the symptoms of a histamine reaction is nasal swelling and drainage. I'm not enough of an expert to know if the food you eat can affect nasal allergies. I have no doubt a note from an allergist would go a long ways to solving the problem; then her situation would be protected under the ADA.

Now if it was Kosher or Halal meals she brought in and there was a chance that the meals served were not valid to her religion then that is totally different.

Indeed, and also protected under the First Amendment.

As it is not, that I can see, backed up by medical grounds, I am having a hard time seeing a definite case for her, it's like being on a gi diet (or whatever it is) not for health reasons but for shits and giggles.

Well, sort of. She brought up a medical grounds . . . allergies. She just didn't support it with anything other than anecdotal evidence. She should provide a physicians supporting recommendation. Then the school would have to allow her to eat her own lunches.

she's given other times she can eat, but "prefers" the lunch time the school has for the kids.

Oh, come on now. Wouldn't you? I know I would.

I don't know if her allergies are legit or not. She should make some effort to prove it and gain the protection of the ADA. If she can get a doc to verify it, then the school should back down. If not, she should find a place to work that has different rules.

[Ginger Tea]

I'm not enough of an expert to know if the food you eat can affect nasal allergies. I have no doubt a note from an allergist would go a long ways to solving the problem; then her situation would be protected under the ADA.

You have more medical knowledge than I do, but I associate nasal allergies to be along the lines of hayfever and food and nose interactions are only smells.
If food is giving you problems with your nose, perhaps try eating with your mouth instead

Well, sort of. She brought up a medical grounds . . . allergies. She just didn't support it with anything other than anecdotal evidence. She should provide a physicians supporting recommendation. Then the school would have to allow her to eat her own lunches.

I don't know if her allergies are legit or not. She should make some effort to prove it and gain the protection of the ADA. If she can get a doc to verify it, then the school should back down. If not, she should find a place to work that has different rules.

Just saying it means nothing, proving it is where it's at, if she had stated a food based allergy and they could not prove that the food served might contain it, then yes she's in the right.
As it stands she's just opted to eat fruit and veg not processed or coated in pesticide the way the fruit and veg the school no doubt uses.

without a specialist giving input in her specific case not just in general (and this would not be made aware to us least not the particulars as it goes against the Hippocratic oath etc) the school can see it as fussy eating, which TBH fad diets are if not doctor prescribed.

[Andara Bledin]

As far as I can gather, the woman hasn't made any effort to actually get an allergen check with her doctor, instead attempting to diagnose and treat her issue on her own. Thus the use of "severe nasal allergies" when the dietary change indicates that it's really nothing of the sort.

Anyone focusing on that phrasing is missing the boat, misdirected by her own ignorance of the true problem.

It is likely that she suffers from a dietary issue, which is why the change in diet stopped the issue with her sinuses. But until she actually gets it diagnosed and stops calling it a "nasal allergy," the school isn't going to budge, and I really don't think that they should.

[Dreamstalker]

unless processed food can trigger their and I say again nasal allergies.

That's possible. I seem to have developed a 'nasal' allergy (does not seem to be any more serious than sneezing/runny nose fits) that I found is triggered by something in a lot of processed food; whether it's a specific ingredient or just a weird reaction to some preservative/coloring or other I don't know yet.

[AccountingDrone]

May I gently point out that studies have proven that a majority of the 'taste' of foods is actually determined by the actual smells brought up into the sinus cavity during eating [which is why eating with a stuffed nose sucks because nothing tastes right.]

So yes what you eat may indeed cause traditional 'hay fever' reactions if that is the way your body rolls.

[Shadowen]

I have found anything laced with jasmine will cause my nose to become very stuffed up, drip, my eyes will swell shut, etc.

[Primer]

taken from: http://science.howstuffworks.com/lif...uestion139.htm
(because it puts it in plain English)
"... In order for you to smell something, molecules from that thing have to make it to your nose..."
So yes, the teacher's aid may actually be physically allergic to something in the food, but it really DOES need to be backed up by a medical doctor.