Watch: School Official Says 'Just Shoot' Students with Food Allergies

Peanut allergies are increasingly common, but there are others that restrict the snacks schools can serve – which prompted a joke that fell flat in a suburban Detroit school district. (Photo via Creative Commons)

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A Clawson school board member said she was only joking when she said the school district could “just shoot” students with food allergies, but the comment caused such an uproar that she has resigned.

The school board apologized for the comment on Clawson Public Schools website, saying:

“We were stunned and saddened by a comment recently made by a member of the Board of Education of Clawson Public Schools. Although the comment was an inappropriate attempt at humor, it was most insensitive, and has resulted in the resignation of Linda Grossmann, Clawson Board of Education Trustee. It does not represent the views of our district nor our Board of Education.

“Our school district enjoys an outstanding reputation as a welcoming, innovative educational community for all children. We will not permit this single incident to interfere with our mission to continue to meet the needs of all our students.”

On Facebook, where school Superintendent Monique Beels released a similar statement, some commenting said the apology came too late – the board meeting where the comment was made was on Nov.10 – and the entire board laughed.

Grossmann’s comments came as the school board was hearing from building principals about the effect of federal rules that restrict the kind of snacks that can be served in schools. One principal noted there are “too many allergies … at least one in every class,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

“Well, you should just shoot them,” Grossmann retorted.

Another board member suggested isolating children with food allergies in a separate classroom.

A video of the board meeting posted on the Honesty for Clawson Schools Facebook page shows Grossmann raising her hands to indicate she was only joking. But Mark Drinkard of Clawson, whose granddaughter has a peanut allergy and often feels ostracized because must eat at a table alone, said the joke was crass and fell flat.

“I know she was joking, but it was a very poor joke,” Drinkard told the newspaper. “If you had a life-threatening allergy, would you think it was so funny if someone made fun of you?”

On Facebook, Erin Sadler said Grossmann’s resignation “is a start,” but the laughter by the board members ”reflect(s) how the board views children with food allergy disabilities.”

Sadler’s comment was typical of many on the thread.

Another patron, Katie Ballard, said she has a son with serious food allergies and a rare gastrointestinal disorder.

“... I’m disgusted by this,” she posted. “Why was the entire room laughing? And what kind of human talks about shooting a child? Maybe I need to pull my kids out of school and send them to another district that won’t ‘shoot them.’ ”

The video, posted below, had been viewed nearly 58,500 times, shared more than 2,000 times and generated about 765 comments by 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The conversation about food allergies begins around the 18:20 mark, and Grossmann’s comment came at 24 minutes into the video.

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

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