Pupil health: food allergies: guidelines.

Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for that work. Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to provide emergency epinephrine auto-injectors to school nurses or trained volunteer personnel, and authorizes school nurses and trained personnel to use epinephrine auto-injectors to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an anaphylactic reaction, as provided. This bill would require the State Department of Education to create guidelines for local educational agencies, defined to mean school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, to protect pupils with food allergies. The bill would require the guidelines to focus on best practices for school nurses and school food handlers, and to include specified protocols, including that food served or offered to pupils accurately label certain ingredients, to notify parents and guardians of those ingredients, and to establish communication with the parent or guardian of a pupil with a food allergy, as specified. The bill would encourage local educational agencies to follow those guidelines.