Education Law

Incidents

New York –During the spring of 2007 in Mastic, NY a group of girls harassed fourteen year-old Sarah VanEssendelft with peanut butter sandwiches when they decided they no longer wanted VanEssendelft sitting at their lunch table.  One day they all brought the sandwiches to lunch so that VanEssendelft could not sit with them.  A few days later, a boy in one of VanEssendelft's class brought a peanut butter cup and ate it in class, which sent her to the hospital for four days.  Since the incident VanEssendelft's mother has applied for a 504 plan, the school banned eating in all classrooms, and the school will consider future allergy bullying as discrimination against a disability.[4]

Kentucky- Officials arrested an eighth grade girl after she put peanut butter cookie crumbs in a classmate's lunch box.  The bullying victim did not eat the crumbs and she did not have an allergic reaction from exposure.  However, the bully is now facing felony charges in juvenile court for wanton endangerment.[5]

Legal Issues

Allergy bullying falls under the terms of most state's anti-bullying policies.  As of April 2008 thirty states had adopted an anti-bullying policy aimed at defining, preventing, and outlining the consequences associated with bullying in school.  Most of these policies encourage an early reporting system aimed at preventing initial incidents from continuing and escalating.  State anti-bullying policies do differ.  Some states do not define bullying categorically, meaning that their policies do not define harassment based on gender, sexual orientation, and other categories of discrimination. 

For More Information on Bullying and Allergy Bullying see:

State-by-State Anti-Bullying Laws in the United States

Word Spy. 'Allergy Bullying.' Retrieved March 29, 2009

 'Life Threatening Food Allergies in School: What Schools are Doing for Kids who are Allergic to Peanuts:'

 'Peanut Butter and Deadly Taunts:'  

 'Bullying Case Grabs Attention:' 

Abigail Mack 

[1] Word Spy. 'Allergy Bullying.' Retrieved March 29, 2009 from http://www.wordspy.com/words/allergybullying.asp

[2] Karen Plumley, 'Life Threatening Food Allergies in School: What Schools are Doing for Kids who are Allergic to Peanuts.' Retrieved March 29, 2009 from http://specialneedseducation.suite101.com/article.cfm/food_allergies_in_school

[3] Lauren Cox,'Peanut Butter and Deadly Taunts.' Retrieved March 29, 2009 from http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AllergiesNews/story?id=4659705

[4] Ibid.

[5] Claire Gagne, 'Bullying Case Grabs Attention.' Retrieved March 29, 2009 from http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=172