WCPSS Parents and Friends: First and foremost, thank you for support of this petition and students in WCPSS. I'm writing tonight as an update to the water-only 'cleaning' of the classroom tables as a guideline set forth by the school system. As many of you know, I put together this petition against this policy for the health and well-being of our students and presented it to the board several months back. After conversations with a few board members, some progress seemed to be made (in the form of discussions among themselves) but the outcome is the same. No changes will be made to the WCPSS guidelines. Tables will continue to be cleaned with water only. This is not only an issue for sanitation, illnesses, and general cleanliness -- but can be a life-threatening situation for those with food allergies like my son. Water doesn't remove nut proteins. We have a 504 plan in place that cleans his space only with soap and water, but that doesn't help all of the others! I refuse to stay quiet. Their guidelines are outdated and shameful coming from our state's largest school district. I urge you, please write the superintendent, the school board members, your school's administration. Light up their social media pages. Let them know we demand better for all of our kids. Here is an excerpt from a note I wrote to a school board member today. Feel free to use portions of it when reaching out. The National School Board Association released guidelines for the management of food allergies for school districts. And it includes many things that WCPSS is not doing – and that were mentioned on our wish list. Here’s a link to the document: https://cdn-files.nsba.org/…/Safe-at-School-and-Ready-to-Le… A few key points: • Re: table cleaning – “Monitor and enforce strict cleaning and sanitation policies and procedures. Train staff to use commercial cleaning solutions on tabletops and develop food handling and preparation protocols to avoid cross-contamination.” (pg 9) • Re: hand washing – “Promote hand washing before and after breakfast, lunch, and snacks.” And “Consistently implement appropriate hand washing procedures (note that hand sanitizers are not effective in removing the residue of known allergens).” (pg 9) • Re: not restricting allergens in the classroom – “Classrooms and all other locations known to be used by a student with a life-threatening food allergy must be kept free of the allergens identified as harmful to the student. If a student’s allergy is not as severe, specific areas and desks can be designated for the student’s use that will be kept allergen safe. Be careful not to compromise a student’s confidentiality when making such accommodations.” (pg 8) WCPSS is far behind the curve here. It even notes that “People might initially resist making accommodations until they realize the life-threatening nature of the situation and the disruptions a health crisis can cause to the school day.” Which is exactly what the district is doing now. These guidelines are also in direct opposition of the CDC guidelines, public health department recommendations, F.A.R.E. recommendations, among others. It's truly nonsensical. I'm sharing this information with all of you who signed the petition, asking you to write your school board representatives. I also plan to submit an op-ed to News and Observer, pointing out all of the above and the history of this initiative. I don’t know how much good any of this will do, but I can’t sit back quietly when guidelines and recommendations from all parties are being ignored by our school system. www.cleanourtables.com #cleanourtables #wakeupwcpss