HADLEY — A districtwide policy concerning food allergies was presented and approved at the Nov. 20 School Committee meeting.

“This is our first ever true policy and protocols for food allergies,” said School Committee member Ethan Percy. “We’ve obviously had protocols in the past but this is kind of outlining a policy that we’ll have moving forward that the nurses took time to put together and I think does a good job of explaining everything that’s going to happen moving forward with regards to food allergies.”

The policies and protocols as presented detail the establishment of communication systems, availability of proper treatments and the identification of specific roles in response to a food allergy incident.

The outline also addresses the identification of students with allergies, storage of medication and the training of students, parents and staff in the classroom, on buses and in the cafeteria areas.

Hadley Public Schools Nurse Robin Cycz told the committee that some of the needed medicines are being provided with state assistance.

“We are gifted EpiPens from the state,” she said. “My health office at Hopkins has two, Gail’s [Fuller] has two but also we require children who have known allergies with anaphylaxis to come in and bring in their own EpiPen as well, so we’re well covered.”

In a follow up, Hadley Elementary School Nurse Gail Fuller said the current plans include much of what is already in place.

“This is just a matter of us updating and implementing the policy into the school handbook on the website,” Fuller said. “But it’s nothing that we haven’t already been doing, we just wanted to outline it in a more concise manner and to be able to have it visible by our ever-increasing population of students and families.”

While the policies apply to all grades in the district, there are differences at Hopkins Academy where students in grades seven through 10 are able to carry their own EpiPen.

Fuller said while there has been no discernible increase in the level of concern over food and similar allergies within the school there appears to be a rise in the identification of reactions and sensitivities.

“I just think we are seeing more students being diagnosed with food allergies, probably because of more accessibility to care, I’m guessing, I don’t know or providers are being more careful," she said.

Fuller said peanuts and tree nuts remain the most common food allergies that school staff deal with on a regular basis.

“Our cafeteria does not serve any nut products and we have a peanut free table where the children who have peanut free allergies may sit, especially if their parents feel most safe with them sitting at a peanut free table.”

Classrooms who are home to students with allergies are also kept free of those products to prevent exposure. Teachers, cafeteria and transportation staff members are all made aware of specific issues.

Fuller said that there has been no pushback from families and parents overall are understanding and cooperative with the policies and the requests from the district.

“This is why we just wanted to add this layer of putting the policy in the school handbook so it’s easily accessible for them to read,” she said. “If you’re a parent who has a child with a life-threatening food allergy, I would think it would be a little comforting to see that we have a specific plan in place that they can access at any time.”

While procedures are not new, keeping them current and visible to all concerned is a positive step, Fuller said.

“I think this has really, always been in place here at this school and it’s just a matter of keeping things extremely organized and accessible for everybody.”