Anaphylaxis: A Handbook for School Boards - Education, Culture ...

Canadian School Boards Association• Consider an advertisement in the local newspaper to solicit volunteer committee members and toinform the public of the policy initiative.• If the entire board is not involved in the policy development process, bring regular reports of itsprogress to public board meetings.• Invite schools to evaluate existing practices for anaphylactic children and to make suggestions forpolicy development.• Keep the public informed of the policy development process as it evolves, through schoolnewsletters and the media.• Involve board or association legal counsel as the policy development nears completion, to ensurethat the board will not be asked to approve a policy that overlooks important legal considerations.Some boards incorporate their policies and procedures on life-threatening allergies into larger policies onstudent health or the administering of medications in school. From an organizational standpoint this makesgood sense, but it is important that the information relating directly to anaphylaxis be clearly identifiable withinthe larger policy, so that school personnel can access it easily and copy it in a usable form for distribution.Regardless of the policy development process used, once a policy protecting anaphylactic students hasbeen adopted, school board personnel should concentrate on ensuring that implementation is consistentacross the board’s jurisdiction.26