Parents, teachers and staff can hand out snacks at school again after the Bellevue School District board voted Tuesday night to ask staff members to revoke a recent procedure, aimed at protecting children, especially those with life-threatening allergies.

Last year at least 16 students suffered anaphylactic shock needing epinephrine. Four required ambulances.

According to the district’s head nurse six of the incidents occurred while students were sharing food, a cookie or a snack, and five others having eaten something given out during class unaware of all the ingredients.

While the board members agreed student safety is paramount, only 4 percent of the 20,000 plus students currently enrolled in the Bellevue School District have severe food allergies, and eliminating snacks had unintended consequences.

District staff members were asked to come up with an alternate solution by the end of January to address a growing trend of students suffering severe allergic reactions. Each school will still maintain the ability to prohibit snacks from being served in classrooms, if staff chooses.

During the public meeting, more than a dozen residents, including teachers, parents and students, spoke in opposition of the procedure, which rolled out district-wide a week and a half ago in anticipation of Halloween.

Those opposed to the procedure were upset with how quickly it was put in place, without consideration of what it would affect.Newport Heights Elementary School teacher Amelia Stern told the board it “broke her heart” when she had to tell a student who was hungry she couldn’t give him a snack because of the procedure.

Stern and others said while many students’ parents have the financial means to provide their children with health snacks that could be distributed by a school nurse if necessary, just as many don’t or have to settle for cheaper, unhealthy snacks.

But the restrictions on snacks didn’t just affect lower-income students, it eliminated the ability of parents to share cultural foods, celebratory snacks for a child’s birthday, and teachers being able to reward their classes with treats.

It also prevented from certain curriculum involving food. One educator said if the procedure were to remain she couldn’t teach her STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) approved lesson about how to make Play-Doh using flour and baking ingredients.

Two fourth grader students at Somerset Elementary also expressed their disdain for the procedure and its restriction on food being distributed in class.

“Mandating food-free celebrations makes the celebration not even seem like a special time at school,” said Abby Robertson. “Taking away all food from celebrations is overkill and undermines the educational opportunities and community building that occurs when food is shared. The world is not allergy-free.”

Her classmate Hannah Ketchum, whose allergic to gluten and dairy, said she learned to ask the right questions when food was involved and thinks other students can, and are doing the same.

“Sharing food is a way to learn about each other, which is one of the reasons we go to school,” she said. “Kids with allergies should know, by the age of six or seven, what they’re allergic to, and be sure to avoid it.”

One of the parent’s who supported the procedure, Rod Beddow, told the Reporter he didn’t want to deprive anyone of eating whatever they wanted, but didn’t see why it had to be done in the classroom.

Beddow’s son, a sixth grader, has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts.”Most kids with allergies know they’re walking into a minefield when they go into the lunchroom, but when it extends to the classroom it’s exhausting for them to keep track of if all.”

John Harrison, executive director of schools, told the Reporter he anticipated the updated procedure would cause some reaction, but was pleasantly surprised by the community’s engagement.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board with the feedback we’ve received and get the community more involved,” he said following the meeting. “When we have a good draft we’ll present it to the board and the community. At the end of the day we’ll have a better procedure on how to deal with these situations and that’s a good thing.”