FAACT's Roundtable

Ep. 207: Food Allergy Harassment - Carter's Story

• Shawna Mannon, Amelia Smith • Season 4 • Episode 207

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Shawna Mannon, high school student Carter’s mom, joins FAACT’s Roundtable Podcast today to discuss what her family experienced at her son’s former high school regarding his food allergies and why she filed a lawsuit against the school district. We’re also joined by FAACT’s General Counsel and VP of Civil Rights Advocacy, Amelia Smith, JD, to explore civil rights and how they impact people with food allergies.

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Caroline: Welcome to FAACT's Roundtable, a podcast dedicated to navigating life with food allergies across the lifespan. Presented in a welcoming format with interviews and open discussions, each episode will explore a specific topic, leaving you with the facts to know or use. Information presented via this podcast is educational and not intended to provide individual medical advice. Please consult with your personal board certified allergist or healthcare providers for advice specific to your situation. Hi, everyone. I'm Caroline Moassessi, and I am your host for the Fact Roundtable Podcast. I am a food allergy parent advocate and the founder of the Grateful Foodie blog, and I am FAACT's Vice President of Community Relations. Shawna Manon, Carter's mom, joins FAACT's Roundtable Podcast today to discuss what her family experienced at her son's former high school regarding his food allergies and why she filed a lawsuit against the school district. We're also joined by FAACT's General Counsel and Vice President of Civil Rights Advocacy, Amelia Smith, JD, to explore civil rights and how they impact people with food allergies. Welcome, Shawna, to FAACT's Roundtable podcast. And Amelia, welcome back. It's great to have a legal expert with us here today as we explore food allergies, civil rights, and especially Carter's story.

Shawna: Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Amelia: I'm glad to be back, as always, Caroline. And good to see you again, Shawna.

Caroline: Wonderful. So, before we get started, I just want to mention that Shawna Mannon filed a federal civil lawsuit against Lake Travis Independent School District in April 2024. We'll explore the situation that led up to the lawsuit, but we'll take into account that this lawsuit is still active. Turning to you, Shawna, let's dive right into the incident that prompted your son to change schools during his high school football career, and we'll address the lawsuit in just a few minutes. So. So can you just share with us what exactly happened?

Shawna: So, just a little background on Carter. So, he's had severe food allergies pretty much his whole life. We found out at about nine months old that he was allergic to peanuts. Was the first one. Now he's allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish. So he has navigated his allergies beautifully throughout his life. Very minimal exposure. He's just a very patient kiddo, and he's. He's handled it all very well. So he is now 16. This happened when he was still 15, and he was a sophomore in high school and played on a varsity football team here in Texas. Football is kind of a religion, and it's a very, very big deal. Playing varsity as a sophomore is a huge, huge privilege, huge honor, and he has just done very, very well with his football career. So being the new kid on the team as a sophomore, he was, you know, one of the youngest kiddos, really excited to get started. So a couple games into the season, he went into his locker before a game and found peanuts had been scattered in his locker among his gear. And just before that, so backing up a day Thursday, they were all at a place called restore hyper wellness. It's cryotherapy iv hydration place. Overall, they call it a wellness center. So the boys, the varsity boys, would all go in and get iv's the day before the game. It's one of the perks of being a varsity football player. They sit there for about an hour with their iv in, and they talk, and there's probably a dozen of them in the room. Carter's allergy came up in conversation, and, you know, the boys were asking, where should we go to dinner tonight? They won't go to a team dinner before the game. And they were kind of going around the room saying where they would like to go. One of the boys, I believe, mentioned Texas Road house, which obviously was an off limits thing for Carter because of the peanuts. He mentioned that he had a food allergy to peanuts. He said, yeah, it's real severe. And the guys, a couple of the guys kind of laughed about it, and they were like, you got to be kidding. Now, Carter's a big guy. He's 6465, you know, 200, 4250 pounds. He's a big, big dude. To think some kids, to think of a peanut taking a kid that size down, I guess, was comical for them. And I think that they just couldn't even understand that can really harm you. And Carter's like, yeah, it could definitely harm me. It could actually kill me. And they said, what if it just touched you? Would that kill you? And he said, yeah, it definitely could. You know? And he's thinking, okay, if it got in my eyes, if it got in my nose, my mouth, yes, I would have to use my epi pencil. He showed him his epipen, and the conversation went on for about ten minutes, and they all kind of dispersed, went on their separate ways. I don't know if they ended up going to dinner. I don't remember after that. But the two boys that were questioning him went up to the school, and that evening, so it was a Thursday night, went up to the school and got a can of peanuts that was in a kid's locker and filled his cleats with peanuts and. And scattered them around in his locker. So the game wasn't until the next day. So they had sat there, and when he came onto campus the next day, he was in what's called the CAC, which is an indoor football field that our high school has. And before the game, they all kind of hang out there at the CaC, and they play ping pong, and they do cornhole bags and things just to kind of kill time until it's time to get ready and get on the bus. He was playing ping pong, and one of the boys that was questioning him the day before had something in his hand, which he later found out was peanuts. He didn't know at the time, and I think that Carter's thought process through this was he had no concept that a teammate would do something like this to him. So at this point, he did not have his guard up. He was trusting with these guys. These were his buddies, you know? And I think that the last thing that crossed his mind was that this kid had a handful of peanuts. So this kid holds the peanuts in his hand, and he's flicking them at him across this grass area, and he's flicking them, and Carter's kind of dodging them, not realizing they're like. He's thinking maybe it's like a seed or something. And so he's like, what is this? And so he looks on the ground, and he sees peanuts on the ground, and he's like, dude, I just told you I'm allergic to peanuts. We just talked about this yesterday, you know, and he was one of the kids that were. They were really having this conversation in depth, and he felt like that was a very clear conversation. There was no questions left behind as to if it could harm him, if kill him. It was very clear. So that frustrated Carter, that he was flicking these peanuts at him. And so carter got it back into the locker room, and that's when he noticed the peanuts. He said, when he walked in, he noticed there were some peanuts on the floor kind of around in the front of his locker. He really wasn't putting it together. He just. He's. I think it was just the last thing on his mind. You know, it's like, I can't. I can't ever imagine that they would actually do this. And so he saw the peanuts along the floor, and he. He thought, okay, I'll just avoid them. You know, there's tons of stuff on the floor. It's a varsity locker room, for goodness sakes. It's not clean. Kind of walks around them and goes to get his gear, grabs his cleats, puts them kind of on the crook of his arm, and goes to get his jersey. When he picks up his jersey, some peanuts fall out of his jersey. And then it finally registered and clicked. And he's like, they did it. They actually did it. He drops it. He drops his stuff. And by the way, one part of this, one of the boys that did this, so my understanding is when he filled the cleats. So one boy filmed it. One boy did it. Okay, so the boy that filmed it went back, dumped out the cleats after it had been done. I think he probably realized that it was a really stupid thing, and let's. Let's fix this. Let's make it right. So he did attempt to make it up. There were some. There were still some peanuts in the cleats. I have them in my garage. They're still in there today. There definitely was dust and residue and everything else. And I think that he did what he thought was probably something he's trying to make up for what he did. And I understand where he was coming from, and I commend him for trying to make it right. Unfortunately, it almost made it worse in a way, because it took that visual warning away from Carter. And now he didn't see a cleat full of peanuts. He saw an empty cleat, you know, when he first, at first, glanced. But regardless, I commend the kid for trying to do the right thing. So the kid that videoed it and emptied the cleats, we'll call him C. And the kid who actually put the peanuts in the locker and was flicking the peanuts, we'll call him G. So you'll see the beginning of their name mentioned in the lawsuit as well. I believe that. That. So Carter drops his stuff. He runs out back out to the CAC, and he's just furious. He's confused. He wanted to just get out of that environment. He said he wasn't sure if they were going to jump out at him and throw a bucket of peanuts on his head or juice. He just had no idea what was coming next. And he fully thought there was more coming. And so he just got out of there, went back out to that indoor field and was kind of pacing around. And I think one of the kids took, told one of the coaches, hey, someone put peanuts in Carter's gear. We need to get him a new uniform. They worked on that. And then I had a phone call from a parent that said, hey, you need to get ahold of Carter. Something happened to him. They put peanuts in his gear, and he's about to get on the bus, and he doesn't have anything to wear to the game. Also, his cleats are a size 17 cleat. There's no one else that can wear that size cleats. It's. It's a. It's a tough size to find. I don't know how they did it, but he ended up having to replace those a couple weeks later because I couldn't find them in fleet. So he didn't. He didn't have any shoes to wear, so he had to borrow some kids shoes that were a little small, but he got a new uniform dressed out. I never spoke with them until after the game. He didn't call me. He was, I think, in shock. I think that he was really kind of heartbroken. This was a really cool opportunity for him that we were just so proud of him being on this team and just so proud to be at this school. This football program at this school is. Is a powerhouse. It's a powerhouse of a program. It's known all over the nation, heavily recruited. So it was a great opportunity for him. With that being said, it was extremely disappointing. The months that followed this incident. If that was the only part of the incident that happened, I think that we probably could have moved on from that and we could have let it smooth out. So once I talked to Carter after the game, he still had hives on his arm. He obviously washed off all the residue and everything, and he knew that he needed to get that off. Thankfully, he didn't need an EpiPen because it didn't touch his face. He was quick to wash it off and didn't rub his eyes or anything. He was able to play in that game that evening. So when he got home that evening, he told me, you know, mom, they asked me first the day before if it could kill me. And then they did it. I didn't know that part until after the game. That really took it to a whole new level for me. I can understand if kids are, you know, sure, 1617 year old boys. Gosh, kids in general do dumb stuff. I expect that. And I forgive that. I absolutely can forgive when a kid does something really, really dumb. I have three kids. They all have done dumb things, and we can move on from that, you know, but when they ask you very clearly, can this kill you? And then they deliberately do it, exactly what they asked. I have a really hard time moving past that without some serious discipline, some serious consequences. So what happened after that was I went to the coach. We had a conversation. He gave me the impression that this was to be handled extremely seriously. He says, I will penalize these guys as hard as I can. They might as well have loaded a gun and put it to your son's head. He said all the right things, and it gave me a little bit of confidence that, okay, he's going to take care of this. We have at our school called daep, it's an out of school suspension. It goes on the record. It's you typically, it's a one month, you know, three weeks to a month for things like if you're caught with a vape, it's a one month DaEp suspension. So as I researched the different consequences in our school for things like a vape or things like having alcohol on campus or something like, I don't know, these are nothing that's going to harm another person. Assault, you know, assault is something that you typically, it's a 30 day daep, and then a lot of times you'll even get expelled. I, in my mind, consider this assault. It caused harm. It was deliberate. He asked first, and it was. It was very black and white to me that this should have been assault. So whenever I spoke with football coach and when he gave me a very clear, you know, this is, this is going to be very harshly disciplined. So I left that meeting with a lot of confidence. And I also told him, I'm going to go ahead and report it to the school. This did happen on school grounds. It's a school issue. And he was like, yeah, totally fine. So I called the school office and they said, oh, that's horrible. You know, they were very sympathetic. Couldn't believe that some kid would do that. Said, let me figure out what your, what the protocol is here, and I'll get back to you tomorrow. Called me back the next day and they said, we're going to. We're going to hand this over. Football department. We're not going to discipline as a school, which means there will be no daep, there will be no red flag put on this kid's record. There will be no anything put on his record. As of right now, the record's clean. So that was my first gut punch to my stomach. I thought, surely, surely this isn't how this is going to work. Like this is to me, a big deal. This is probably my worst fear for Carter, for one of his peers or so called friends or teammates to deliberately try to harm him. Through his allergy. That, to me, is just as harsh as poisoning or any.

Caroline: It's.

Shawna: That is an attack. That is assault. I don't know how else to say it. When the school chose to hand it over to that point, they broke their policy. So if you read their handbook and their policies, it states that the school will discipline for an action. And then also the secondary discipline can come from the football department. So instead of going through the school, they bypassed it and went to football. That was my first issue. So the retaliation part of it, this is where I guess you. It turns into more of a bullying problem. So the kid that filmed it. Okay, kids, see, he apologized profusely, never spoke with Carter again, did not make fun of him, did not taunt him, nothing. It was a done deal. It was over. I spoke with the parents. They were horribly apologetic. It was, I felt for the kid he was when he was interviewed. I mean, he about broke down in tears just feeling so horrible about it. That tells me that his heart understands that he has done something horrible. And I'm willing to forgive that. They're kids. They're teens. They're going to make bad choices. I understand that. I can forgive that. The other kid, g, he came to school a couple days later with a note for Carter and a note for our family. And he said, my mom made me write this. So it's this forced apology to me. It didn't sit well. And from then on, he would taunt Carter. So the coaches were told to keep them apart in practices. I asked the school if you could try to, maybe because they're offense and defense. There's no need for them to go head to head. So these two kids are the same size. They're both real angry with each other. Why would you even want to do that? So I have the. The huddle video of all the practices that I can watch. And so I was just checking in, and I saw that the kid G would switch places with other kids in line so that he would line up to go head to head against Carter. And when he did that, after the whistle, he would always do something to taunt him. He would grab his face, Mac, and slam him down to the ground. He would shove him after the whistle. Just things that were an extra layer of just mean, just it's. And the coaches would justify it as well. That's just football. But this is beyond just football. This is two kids that need to be kept separate.

Caroline: So I just want to pop in and ask a quick question. So you had the incident happen? The football or athletic department was going to handle it. Did they do anything to try to bring all the parties together to discuss it?

Shawna: No, they didn't. So the discipline that the school ended up or the football department ended up handing out was two suspensions from games. So the boys. So that first game was one of them, and then the second game right after that. So they were benched. They still came to the games. They were still dressed out. Football helmet pads, the whole nine yards. They were made to run at practice, and they were taken out of the varsity locker room and put into the JV locker room. That was all.

Caroline: Okay. So they kept them somewhat separated, but there was no formal conversation of resolution. We had this incident. You know, we're gonna talk about it, then we're gonna establish how we move forward. So there's nothing kind of formal like that.

Shawna: Correct. From what I hear, the coach said, I think twice to the whole team, stop talking about the peanut incident. No one talks about it. Stop talking. Because it's all everyone was talking about. And in these meetings, you can see kid G looking at Carter across the room and just shaking his head and going, this taunting, you know, just this very mischievous taunting. And anytime he passed them in the hall or any time, the coach would bring up something, because after this, no longer were they allowed to have any food in the locker room, like, the whole team, they said, no more food in the locker room. And the kid g, his reaction to that was, oh, it's Carter's fault, you know, so it's Carter's fault that we can't have food in the locker room. He's like, look what you've done, you know? And everything fell back to, well, that's Carter's fault. Instead of it being the other boy's fault that he did something against the kid with the food allergy, we're going to blame it on the kid with a food allergy. So this continued on for weeks and weeks and weeks. They do not believe that there was any retaliation whatsoever, which blows my mind. We turned in a list of about a dozen things in the bullying case, and from what I understand, the kids that were our witnesses, that were on the football team no longer stood by their original stories. And so when they were questioned, they miraculously forgot all about what happened. It's gotten to be. It's gotten to be such a mess, and it got to be such a dark place for Carter. They opened the case on the bullying thing. They quickly closed it, said it wasn't bullying. So we filed a grievance saying, we don't agree. And all these things take, like, a month at a time. You know, it's. It's a process that has to. You have to follow their rules. And we did as best we could and gave them all the chances to make it right, and they just didn't see that they needed to change anything. So here we are.

Caroline: And so before we get into a little bit of the lawsuit information, so just you, as a mom, how did you feel when that incident took place? And then, as the subsequent months go, because, like, for us, as the community watching you, we were all just horrified. Our hearts were breaking. I mean, we could all step in a little bit into your shoes. Cause, you know, everyone's shoes are very different. But. But all of us were just struggling to get our heads around it. So I couldn't even begin to imagine what you felt. So what did you feel when you had that first phone call and then to that point when you were like, that's it. We have to change schools?

Shawna: There were so many different emotions. I don't think I've in my entire life felt so many emotions as I did during this, like, nine month period. So the initial feeling was panic. I just remember the feeling of being on the phone with my friend and her telling me that someone had put peanuts in his gear, and it was panic, and it was heartbreak. It was this feeling of, I'm probably gonna get emotional just because I take myself back to, like, his first day at kindergarten, when I let him go into this classroom of kids, and I handed him off to this teacher that I didn't know, thankfully. Now she's one of my best friends, but I handed him over to this pre. To this, you know, kindergarten class. And I remember thinking, just please keep him safe, and please don't let anyone be mean to him. I just remember, like, praying that prayer in my mind and just please don't let anyone be mean to him. And it was like that flooded back. That moment of him being this little kindergarten kid flooded back. And it was. I said, someone was mean to him. Like, that is exactly what just happened. It was heartbreaking from there. That turned into anger. There was a lot of frustration with the school, I would say. I think I felt just about every emotion. Carter's, I would say, was heartbreak first, and then I would say it was anger. The kid, when he came off the field after that first game, he said, hey, carter, listen, I know, you know, your mom knows about it now, what I did. And I just want. Can you just tell her that I didn't know about it. I didn't know about your allergy before because I'm already in enough trouble with my mom. And so if you could just tell. I didn't know about your allergy. And that was his first thing that he said to him after he did it. You know, it was just. It was just sad. It was very sad.

Caroline: Well, thank you so much for so honestly sharing your story. I mean, I could. You know, personally, I believe it's so important when we do share these stories because we start to educate others. And these stories are useful when maybe we're speaking to someone who's not taking something serious, and then we can turn around and say, well, you know what? This happened, and this is real. It's very important. So thank you so much for sharing that. Now, as parents, as students with food allergies, our community was stunned and angry about what took place. And still many in our community had questions about the legal boundaries being crossed. So, Amelia, we're going to turn to you now from your legal perspective, after learning about the initial incident of the peanuts being placed in Carter's locker and that he advised teammates before the incident that he could be killed by peanuts, were there any civil rights potentially violated? And can you help us understand how food allergies and civil rights intersect?

Amelia: Certainly. Caroline, starting out, I want to say that when bullying involves a student allergens like peanuts, in Carter's case, the situation, as you see, can be fairly legally complex. It's not just about the act committed or the bullying itself, but also the potential for severe health consequences that elevate this matter. Schools have a responsibility to maintain a safe environment for all their students, especially those with known allergies. Most importantly, when bullying crosses into this territory, it may be considered disability harassment, which is a violation of federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities act and the Rehabilitation act of 1973. And I think that's where, you know, we still are having a lot of problems with food allergies and bullying being recognized as disability harassment and also having issues with those that feel that, you know, students don't necessarily need 504 plans or accommodations in place. If schools have food allergy policies, that's still just not the case. In most cases, this type of disability harassment may not be deemed bullying by the school, in direct contradiction to federal law, which is where Shawna and Carter are, unfortunately. So, normally, I would be speaking on my opinions, but because this is such a intense and legally complex topic and situation, I want to actually give you the OCR word. Dealing with disability harassment and also food allergies. So in October of 2010, in an OCR Dear colleague letter, then assistant secretary for Civil Rights Ruslin Ali states, harassing conduct may take many forms, including verbal acts and name calling, graphic and written statements, which may include the use of cell phones or the Internet, or other conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. Harassment does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Harassment creates a hostile environment when the conduct is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to interfere with or limit a student's ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or opportunities offered by a school. When such harassment is based on race, color, national origin, sex, or as here, disability, it violates the civil law rights that the OCR enforces. That's a direct float. More recently, in February of 2024, the Department of Education itself released a document entitled section 504 protections for students with food allergies. At the bottom of this document it states, furthermore, even if a student with a food allergy has a disability but does not need modifications, as a side note there meaning a 504 plan, they would still be protected from discrimination such as disability based harassment. For example, section 504 may require a school to respond to bullying or harassment targeted at the student because of their medical condition or because they are regarded as or having a record of having a disability. Such bullying or harassment, for example, could be related to a student's eating of an allergy safe lunch, or could involve the threat of exposure to a food to which a student is allergic. These are direct quotes from the US Department of Education. It's sell why do we have schools that are not getting this? That is how food allergies and civil rights intersect here. To put it just as clearly as I can, it's not my words, it's the US Department of Education words.

Caroline: Amelia, can you share us with the links of the information you just shared? I'll put those in the show notes for our listeners.

Amelia: Certainly, Caroline, I'm going to send you the links to both of those documents, as well as the OCR documents and other things we might mention later on, including the National Bullying Provision Center.

Caroline: Shawna, at what point did you realize that this situation was just larger than potentially a bad joke, but that harassment and potential discrimination of a student with food allergies was taking place?

Shawna: So the original incident of putting the peanuts in his locker and his cleats and his gear, that was clear to me that they chose peanuts for Carter because he was allergic and because it could harm him. And they wanted to see what would happen after that. One of the incidents that happened in the weeks after the incident was that a kid put a peanut butter granola bar in his bag, and he found it later in the day, still packaged, still sealed. But the fact that it was a peanut butter granola bar that someone put in his backpack, just as a little power trip, a little, you know, one more little jab. Social media also became a huge part, and you'll see that in the lawsuit, a huge part of the bullying. So there were multiple anonymous people, anonymous posters, that anytime the school mentioned football or if Carter's name was mentioned, or if student G or student C were mentioned, comments were made regarding the peanut. So peanut pictures, peanut little memes and videos and things like that, just this constant spiral every single time it got to where the responses also came from. The anonymous accounts created, obviously, by Lake Travis football players, it was very clear. And they began to attack my other kids, my two girls. So I have a senior and a 6th grade girl. So they started creating accounts to attack them. They had one that my daughter's name is faith, my oldest, a senior, and they had one that was called faith is fat. And they created this account and would post that. She needs to be on the treadmill more, and maybe she needs to stop eating and maybe she needs to. It just went on and on and on. And this was all through Instagram, and it was all public. It was never a private message. It was all public. And it just. It spiraled into this nasty social media. I don't even know. Attack, I guess you would say. It was. It was just nasty. At no point did the school make any attempt to delete these comments to find out who was posting them, to say, to stop it, because it clearly was coming from football players. They knew things that only things that the football players would know about the situation because they were in the locker room when it happened. And also, Carter has told certain people certain things. They knew certain things, and he. He knew. He had a pretty good idea who it was. Anywho, so that was part of the retaliation slash bullying that happened afterwards that just got brutal for our entire family. I had moms call me up and cuss me out over the phone because I wasn't doing enough to protect the name of Lake Travis and the football program and reputation. Once it started going viral on social media, I think it was in February, a few people posted it. It went viral. It was shared I don't know how many thousands of times. And it just became this freight train of a story. And what parents were frustrated with me about was that I didn't stop the freight train. As if I could have stopped the freight train. Once something goes viral on social media, there's no stopping that. There's no stepping in front of it. There's no calling it out and saying, hey, please stop talking about this. No, they will chew you up and spit you out and your best to just get out of the way. And it ran its course. After about a month or two, there were several UT players that just very kindly took the story and posted it on their own twitter in support of Carter and just saying, hey, you know, we don't want this kid because, by the way, the kid was offered a scholarship at UT. So they just made it very clear that we don't want this kid in our locker room. We want this kid in our. On our team with the culture that we have here. We have no room for bullying. We have no room for the negativity that this is bringing. So they were just very kind and reached out and they posted to their twitters. I think that there were several NFL players as well that did the same, and all just in support of Carter, and it was very kind, made him feel like he was being supported and loved, and that felt good to him. Keep in mind, too, at school, the chatter is still going on, and I wouldn't say it even ended until he was gone. It's still. It still happens. He still gets text messages from people, you know, asking him about it and commenting about it and, oh, you're never going to believe this or you're going to believe so and so said or whatever. And it's just, I don't know how long it's going to take for it to run its course there at Lake Travis, but I'm really, really glad that we're not going to be there to see it. So it was time to go and move on.

Caroline: Thank you again for sharing that. And, you know, as a food allergy parent, sometimes, you know, your family has to make those kind of tough decisions, and so I'm sorry you had to make that decision. Also, thank you again for sharing that. Turning to you, Amelia, and again, your expertise and thoughts. When a student has had their civil rights potentially violated, how does a family determine if the situation meets the minimal requirements to be deemed a civil rights violation? So, meaning, at what point does the family go, okay, like, this is more than just bullying or this is just more than a joke? There have been civil rights violations, but how do I figure out what a civil right violation is. Fully.

Amelia: Well, the first thing I would suggest to a family who thinks that there might be something starting or something that could potentially lead to a full, full fledged blatant, very obvious, in my opinion, in Carter's situation, a situation of bullying. To the extent that it's disability harassment, it's very important for parents to document and for students, if they're older, to document what occurs and to keep up with these facts. Some were written down online just to keep documenting what's happening, because that will assist in a complaint later. But to determine whether you need to file a complaint, you always need to do your homework. Of course, you can visit fact civil rights Advocacy Resource center to learn about your civil rights, what basic civil rights protections are afforded under federal disability law, but you also can visit the OCR's website or even reach out to the OCR's technical assistance offices in your local regions. And of course, when I say the OCR again, I'm talking about the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. And I'll make sure that we have the link to the page for the OCR where you can put your state in the little drop down box and it will give you your local regional office contact, but they will also help walk you through and say, okay, here's what's going on. You know, technical assistance, they're not necessarily always attorneys. They can't give you legal advice, but they can talk you through things. They're well versed in what the OCR does. Additionally, fact offers one on one contact with families free of charge. A lot of times I do that. Of course, if you're not in Mississippi, I'm not practicing law. I cannot give you true legal advice, but I can talk to you as a parent of another child with food allergies who has specialized knowledge in this area. We often brainstorm and come up with ideas, or we talk about black letter law ideas, or I point you to the documents, such as the ones I quoted earlier, or I can even help you find an attorney or an education advocate in your area so that we offer a lot of different information to families in these calls. And it's probably my favorite part of the job. So we're here. Feel free to reach out and email us.

Caroline: And again, listeners, it will all be in the show notes. This is really important information. So now let's look at the lawsuit filed on Carter's behalf. Shawna, what inspired you to actually file the lawsuit and take on the school district? That is a huge undertaking.

Shawna: It is a huge undertaking. And we were well educated as far as how huge of an undertaking this was, it was definitely a last resort. I did not want to sue the school district. I did not want. It just doesn't seem like something I would ever in my lifetime have to do. We gave them, as I stated before, every opportunity to make this right, to correct the wrongs, to admit that this had been handled poorly. I feel like we were overly gracious. We held on, and, I mean, I had hope for so long. Every meeting I would sit in and I would leave feeling hopeful because they would say the right things and they would lead me to believe that there was going to be change made. And then whenever I would get the results of that meeting back, they would say, no, denied. That's, we're not going to do that. We're not going to do the things that you requested, or it was just so. So frustrating and so disheartening. So I feel like we just hit a dead end. You know, we exhausted our resources, did everything that the school district asked of us. As far as the grievance process, we filed a complaint through the OCR that got canceled out when the lawsuit hit. So it's one or the other. You don't usually have a lawsuit and an OCR, so you. We canceled our filing with the OCR or they canceled it for us. So, I mean, when I say it was just our last ditch effort, I truly mean that.

Caroline: It's such a hard situation, what you're going through. Again, going back to what I said earlier a little bit, as it changes our community for the better? And so, even though it's very difficult, it seems like that when someone stops and said, okay, I'm going to fight this, that everyone starts to listen to a certain level. So, on that note, Amelia, from your viewpoint, how do lawsuits like this one impact the entire food allergy community? Should the community not only closely watch the situation to offer support to a fellow food allergy family? What is the impact, or what might be the impact on future generations?

Amelia: Of course, Caroline and Shawna knows this as well. Lawsuits related to food allergies can lead to greater awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by individuals with food allergies, potentially fostering a more accommodating world. I personally want to thank Shawna and Carter for being public about what has happened to them and making it aware and. And being willing to speak about it in the public. I know that was one of their concerns early on in the beginning, and I know it took a lot of courage on Carter's part, which as. And on Shauna's as well. But as a food allergy mom, myself, I just. I'm so proud of Carter just in knowing that he was willing to make this public, to not only get what he needed, but also to make sure that it doesn't happen to other students in the Lake Travis school district, as well as across our country. And that said, that brings us to why these lawsuits are so important. They often bring about significant changes within our communities, whether it's in the food industry or places of public accommodation or the workplace or here, as most often, and most importantly, in school. These cases can also set precedent. I don't know how many times I've used the colonial Williamsburg case that. Where our friend Mary Vargas took them on, and it was held that they could not force a child with food allergies to take their food that they brought from home and sit outside. So I have that. That case printed out with me. If I know I'm going somewhere, that's a place of public accommodation that may give me a hard time about bringing my sons boot in. Just as, you know, these. These other documents from the OCR say that exactly what we need them to say, that what happened is discrimination. That, in and of itself, is secondary precedent to use. These cases really do have the ability to impact our future substantially every time they're tried. And again, just want to thank Shawna and Carter for. For doing it. I know it was difficult. I know it's a hard decision to decide to drop the OCR complaint. And, you know, the OCR will require that, usually, that when we discuss OCR complaints, as we have in other podcasts, that's why we say, usually it's a due process complaint with the district or an OCR complaint or a lawsuit, because the OCR is not typically going to hear something that's being worked out or addressed in a different setting or by a different entity or organization. But we know OCR opinions and resolutions aren't necessarily as public as this lawsuit is. So the ability that the man and family has right now to really influence public opinion and public policy and the policies of our school district, and it's just incomprehensible and tremendous.

Shawna: That is definitely another side of the lawsuit, for sure. And something that I haven't touched on. When Carter talks about this, he's like, we cannot let this happen to another kid. That is his foundation. That's the reason we keep fighting is because he is very adamant. He knows that he is big and strong and of healthy mind. He's not someone who would take this and crumble, you know? And because of that, he is willing to fight. And so he's been my motivation. And throughout this entire process, I have asked him sometimes it was on the daily Carter, are you sure you want me to have this interview with this reporter? Are you sure you want me to do this podcast? Are you sure you want me to write? You know, so throughout this whole process, he has had a hand in it, and his. His desire to continue on with this fight has been a huge part of why we're here. And I would never brought it to this if it were not for him saying, mom, we've got to fight for this. And I will fight forever for this kid, and I will. I mean, if that's what it means to keep other kids safe, we'll do it. We'll continue, and we'll see it through. And that is what he wants in this, is that something like this is another family doesn't have to sit in a position that they feel helpless and that there's no laws to protect them. You know, why is this not criminal? And so that's our next step after this lawsuit, is we've got to create some laws in Texas that makes this distinctly criminal. You know, I can't believe that we don't have them already, but we're going to change that. That's down the line. That, of course, was a huge part of it. And I know what Amelia said about in the beginning, we were trying to keep this very quiet, and we were, because we cared so much about our football program, the reputation of our school, the reputation of our child, our family. We really are not public people at all. It's not our comfort at all to be in the public eye. And when this continued to just escalate, it became. Oh, and the media, by the way, started reporting on it. Whether or not I was giving an interview, it became very clear to me that the media is going to tell this story because it's a fascinating story, not a positive story. It's. It's horrible, but it's fascinating to people that somebody would do something so mean to a kid that is on the same team with them, a teammate. You know, it was just. I think people found it fascinating and horrible all at the same time. And so because of that, reporters started writing on it, even without my interviews. And their facts were off, the names were off, the things, you know, it's like I would read something and think, that's not how it happened. Like that. That's not what Carter's story was. And so then I decided, okay, we've got to tell his story. We've got to tell his facts and his truth. And that's when we started talking to different media outlets. And, man, I tell you, they came out of the woodwork very quickly, and they have a way of finding me. And so we did many interviews with some very kind reporters that took a lot of. They were just very careful with their wording, and they were just so, so great to work with. We had some amazing reporters that reached out, and I'm very grateful for them.

Caroline: I appreciate you bringing up Carter's role in all of this, because that is so inspiring. I mean, it's inspiring to see you and your family fighting this fight, you know, for the rest of our children and generations to come. But to hear that Carter's, like, that main flame in there is just so important for all of us to hear. So thank you for sharing that. So, now, before we say goodbye, because, yes, our time is coming to an end together. Shawna, is there anything else you want our listeners to hear from you?

Shawna: If you are a parent of a child with a food allergy, you have a gut feeling that something is not right, or you have a gut feeling in a situation you don't feel like your child should be, listen to it. Just listen to your intuition. We as parents, have this strong maternal intuition or paternal whatever, but it's. It's so valid. And just listen to your intuition. And. And if you feel like something is not right, you fight for it. You know, our kids cannot always protect themselves, and sometimes they need a little help from us, and that's why we're here. That's what we're here for as parents.

Caroline: Beautiful words. Thank you. And, Amelia, what words? Wisdom. Would you like to leave with our listeners today?

Amelia: Well, I would say that if you are a parent of a student with food allergies who find yourself in the position that the man and family are in, or if you are an adult with food allergies who may be in some sort of similar situation in your workplace, please know that there are resources out there. There is no reason for you to continue to tolerate the abuse, the bullying, the assault. Fact is always here for you. There is the OCR, or if it's employment, you've got the EEOC. There are places to file complaints if the district is not doing what they should to make sure that your student is protected, please feel free to reach out to us at any time for assistance. We would love to speak with you.

Caroline: Thank you. Amelia and Shawna, again, thank you so much. I know it can get exhausting retelling the story and reliving this, because I know that can be triggering for you and Carter, too. So I just want you to know how much fact appreciates you taking the time to join us today and to share this story and just know we're all here supporting you and we will all be following along and cheering you on and cheering all. Actually, all our food allergy families as they deal with different things. You know, fact always talks about how you're never alone. And so, Shawna, I want you to know you are never alone. And listeners, you too. If you need anything, please reach out to us. So thank you to both of you for being here today.

Shawna: I have to say, there is no stronger parent than a food allergy parent. We have felt so much support from this community and it has been beautiful. I had no idea the passion with a food allergy parent. It's. It's a beautiful thing.

Amelia: Thank you, Caroline and Shawna, I enjoyed it. As always.

Caroline: Thank you for listening to FAACT's Roundtable Podcast. Stay tuned for future episodes coming soon. Please subscribe, leave a review and listen to our podcast on Pandora, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,  iHeartRadio and Stitcher. Have a great day and always be kind to one another.