Avery Maier ’13, News Editor
During lunch, most people don’t think twice about the possibility of someone going to the hospital when they dig into the peanut butter basket and walk into the peanut free zone to make a sandwich. Lunch is a time to socialize and satisfy hunger; safety is the last thing on peoples’ minds. However, peanut butter, while tasty, can cause many health problems for those who have peanut allergies.
During the week of September 27, peanut butter was found spread all over one of the tables, resulting in a temporary Upper School ban on peanut butter. Shocked, a lot of students have wondered why the school reacted so harshly.
Fred Carey, dean of the junior and senior classes, believes that the ban on peanut butter should not be a big surprise to the Upper School student body. “The decision to remove peanut butter was a reasonable response to an unreasonable set of circumstances,” he said. “Repeated appeals were made to the student community and these requests proved to be ineffective. Since that was the case, this seemed be a logical and predictable next.”
Because of its dangerous potential, peanut butter and those allergic to it must be sequestered in order to ensure safety. Eldrich Carr, Upper School history teacher said he believes that “at times decisions are made to try and create a very safe environment.”
“If that means that a couple of students are not being responsible enough and we can’t pinpoint who those students are, then we are going to side with safety. We don’t exactly know who is being irresponsible, and therefore we have to ban peanut butter across the board,” Mr. Carr said.
Gabby Richardson ’11, a student with a peanut allergy, has a much more serious outlook on peanut butter and its possible safety issues. Richardson believes that “it would be better if [the school] just eliminated it” because it can cause problems for students with peanut allergies if they sit at a location other than the peanut free zone. “People leave peanut butter on the tables and last year when we had to clean the tables, there was peanut butter and I somehow got peanut butter on my hand and I had an allergic reaction as a result,” said Richardson.
Amanda Young ’11 finds it to be absurd that people would disrespect the peanut free tables. “Why we keep having peanut butter issues I don’t understand,” said Young. “We’re high schoolers and I think we should be able to respect the people that are allergic to peanut butter and not smear it on the tables in the peanut free zone.”
While Young is respectful to students’ peanut allergies, she does not believe that peanut butter should be eliminated because lots of students rely on it for their lunchtime meal. “I should be able to eat my peanut butter and jellies the way I like to,” said Young.
In contrast to Richardson, Lauren Wise ’12, another student with a peanut allergy, said that, “Being allergic to peanuts never has been a big issue at school for me.” Like Young, she believes that Upper School students are old enough to know the serious consequences of putting peanut butter in the peanut free zone. “For the lower school kids I think that a peanut free zone is good,” said Wise. “Younger kids aren’t quite old enough to fully understand why some people can’t eat, touch, or possibly even be near peanut butter.”
Stephanie Luebbers, Upper School Head, said that this was the second time a peanut butter incident had occurred so far this year. “Being sloppy like this potentially endangers members of the community,” said Mrs. Luebbers.
Mr. Carey agrees with Mrs. Luebbers that the possibility of a student having an allergic reaction is a very serious matter. “The problem is not so much with peanut butter per se, but with the potential for some members of our community to experience a severe allergic reaction to any form of nut or nut-containing product,” said Mr. Carey. “These reactions can be quite severe and, depending on the sensitivity of the person in question, could result in anaphylactic shock and even death.”
Mr. Carr said he believes that students tend to forget how serious the peanut butter issue can be. “I think that student body is pretty good when it comes to [avoiding the peanut butter zone with peanut butter], but we do have these slips,” he said. “We need to have the occasional reminder that it is an important issue to many of our peers.”
Despite all of its potential health problems, Mrs. Luebbers acknowledges that peanut butter is a reliable source of food for many students, so it will never be permanently banished. “It is hard to balance the large love of peanut butter with the medical issues it poses. I know that a lot of students rely on the peanut butter for healthy eating,” she said.
While Sara Fitzgerald ’13 believes that students should “try to branch out” beyond eating only peanut butter, “it’s better for them to be eating a peanut butter and jelly than not eating anything at all, so we should keep peanut butter at school.”
Although the issue of peanut butter can be a dangerous and scary issue for those with allergies, as long as we can respect those students and the peanut butter free zone, what Eaisa David ‘13 calls the “thick, enjoyably tasty treat of peanut butter” can stick around.
Photo courtesy of CCDS
