Thank you so much for all of the responses, information and points of view.

I'm still stewing on it.

My main issue is that my choice as the parent and my son's choice and rights were taken away. Maybe I'm upset over the wrong reasons, I don't know, but if this is a class, it's not part of the required curriculum. It should have been offered, but not mandatory. I'm not trying to hide Noah's allergy, but I don't feel it's the school's place to educate him, especially when it goes against what I've taught him from his dr. I wish he would have felt confident enough to speak up and tell that that what they were teaching is not what he is prescribed by his doctor.

I can't wrap my head around the school's liability of this whole thing.

my first question to my child would be 'did the nurse show you how to use it correctly'?

having met a few school nurses, many are fab, but met a few who didnt know how to use one correctly, and one who didnt recognise a reaction that my son was having . 

For me, the thing that bothers me the most is the unilateral decision (it seems) that nurse made without consult with students or parents . . . . a "command decision" without seemingly understanding or respecting the rights of the students to privacy AND the potential for conflicting info vs each student's personally developed allergy plan with his/her personal physician.  I think that it is likely the nurse's perceived challenge to her authority in this situation that may make it hard to work through.

But work through it you must.

Educate - educate - educate as best as possible without seeming to put finger in chest, if that makes sense.

PC, I never tried to hide it either, but that is the parent's, and student's choice.  And they should be consulted on their action plan. 

Consider a different point of view, the more people that know about my DD's food allergies, the safer she will be.   

The more people that know about my DD's food allergies the better chance she could be helped by others during a reaction instead of people standing around wondering what the heck was wrong with her.

The more people that knew about my DD's food allergies the better supported she was as she slowly gained independence and became responsible for herself and it was possible for her to go anywhere, do whatever with her friends, sleepovers, etc.... without parents or parent involvement.

I did not want my DD's food allergies hidden.  No at school, not at dance school, not at her sports events, not anywhere.  And you know what was great?  Her fellow classmates, teammates, peers!  Better than their parents!  Compassionate, careful, questioning, cautious etc...  Many positive years in public school.

She is now in her second year of college.  She had anaphylaxis to a sugar cookie in the wee hours of a morning last fall.  Her roommate gave her the Auvi Q and called 911.

There may be some help and verbiage you can use from here as you try to work with nurse:

https://www.nasn.org/nasn-resources/practice-topics/food-allergies

It was published 2005, so really out of date now.

Does not appear a newer version.  Crud.

Info about original book -- think was published 2008, so HOPEFULLY there is newer version.

Legal Issues in School Health Services
By Nadine C. Schwab, Mary H. Gelfman

Going to Amazon now to see what's there.

My first response was also head explosion.  Then I wanted to bonk her on head with wand.   

So wrong in so many ways, even if intentions were good.  And sounds like she's sensitive and defensive about your response.

I am reminded of nurse publication I used to list as resource.  It may have newer version now?

You're going to have to get her to THINK about all of this differently -- perhaps than she's been trained.

Off to find that book link.

Is this done in other schools in your district? 

I guess I would start with the principal and then go up the chain if necessary. Your points are all valid and should be addressed!

I am not thrilled at all about the class so it's good to see other perspective.

Here are my concerns that I outlined for the school:

* no prior knowledge of the class. No knowledge and no consent and I have no way to really know what was covered.

* It violates my sons right to medical privacy. Would they put all of the kids with HIV in a room together?

* They educated them about what to do when they have a reaction. It was a blanket action plan, one that is entirely different than what was prescribed to my child by his allergist.

My head honestly exploded when I first heard of this "class." I talked to the nurse and she was nothing but rude to me and just kept telling me she's been doing it for years and no one has ever complained before. Trying to figure out who else to talk to about it now.

I like the training...not sure about group training however. I think a note should've gone home in advance with an explanation of plan and an opt-in or out choice.

One benefit of group training is they can see how many other kids have this issue...but confidentiality wasn't honored like GN said.

I would ask them if anything else is planned and that you need advance notification.

Yay???

While it's great that they want to be proactive and not ignore it, what is their plan?  How does it relate to each student's Action Plan?  What about confidentiality?

And there really should have been communication with the parents.

I give them A for effort, F for execution. 

My son came home from school and informed me that he had to go to the media center because of his peanut allergy. There was a group of about 30 kids. Apparently all of the kids with allergies/epipens were sent there and the nurse held a "class" on how to use their epipen, what to do if they have a reaction blah blah blah. I had no knowledge it was going to happen and was supplied zero information.

I'm wondering how all of you would feel about this?

My son is 6th grade and in middle school.