Soccer Gamers Put Peanuts in Allergic Teammate’s Locker — College District Says It is Not Bullying (Unique)

“This might have killed him,” says mother Shawna Mannon, who’s talking out about how her son’s Texas college district dealt with the incident

Carter Mannon was simply 9 months previous when his household found he had a nut allergy.

“We had him sitting on the counter, and my husband was making a peanut butter sandwich proper subsequent to him. Carter reached his hand within the peanut butter jar and he ended up smearing it on himself,” his mother, Shawna Mannon, tells PEOPLE solely.

“He broke out in hives immediately — it was an ideal handprint of hives. And that is after we realized, ‘Oh, he should be allergic.’”

Testing confirmed Carter’s allergy — and as his mother tells PEOPLE, as an alternative of outgrowing it, Carter’s allergic reactions bought worse. “His ranges are off the chart,” his mother says. “You may have this huge sturdy child [and] one little peanut may take him down, may kill him.”

His allergy was well-documented at Lake Travis Excessive College, particularly after freshman 12 months, when he by chance ate an unlabeled peanut butter cookie, which prompted two EpiPen doses — and a visit to the emergency room.

EpiPens ship life-saving emergency doses of epinephrine in circumstances of extreme allergic reactions, per the Mayo Clinic. The largest danger from allergy publicity is anaphylaxis, “a severe, life-threatening allergic response.”

Throughout anaphylactic shock, “blood strain drops instantly, and the airways slender, blocking your respiration. The heart beat could also be quick and weak, and you will have a pores and skin rash. You might also get nauseous and vomit,” in keeping with the Mayo Clinic . “Anaphylaxis must be handled immediately with an injection of epinephrine. If it isn’t handled immediately, it can be deadly.”

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However whereas the peanut butter cookie publicity wasn’t performed intentionally, what occurred in October of Carter’s sophomore 12 months was no accident.

Shawna tells PEOPLE that her son, who was the youngest varsity soccer participant, was quizzed about his allergy by his teammates.

“They had been type of joking round about it and they stated, ‘However may it kill you if it touched you?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, it completely may.’ If it bought in his nostril, eyes or mouth, that is the place it could go into anaphylactic shock. And so he instructed them, ‘Sure, it may completely kill me.’ “

“Then, the subsequent day earlier than the sport, they went in they usually had put peanuts in his locker, on his jersey and in his cleats,” Shawna says. “It was a can of peanuts that they simply type of scattered all through his locker and put in his cleats.”

Shawna tells PEOPLE that “one of many boys got here again and tried to type of clear up a bit bit, however the residue was there, the injury had been performed.”

When Carter went to his locker to dress for the sport, Shawna tells PEOPLE, “When he grabbed his jersey, peanuts fell out all over the place. He realized there have been some nonetheless left in his cleats. He checked out his arm, [and] he is bought hives already beginning to develop.”

His teammates’ reactions had been combined. “One of many boys was sharing a video with the opposite teammates of them doing what they did,” she says. “A bunch of them had been type of simply laughing … Just a few of the boys did say, ‘That is not cool, that might have killed him.’ “

Shawna reported the incident to the college, which turned self-discipline over to the athletic division. The boys had been benched for 2 days, pressured to change locker rooms and do further runs at follow.

However whereas one pupil confirmed regret, Shawna tells PEOPLE, “There was loads of bullying that got here after.”

“The child would flick him as he is strolling down the corridor from behind. There was loads of verbal retaliation … There was one level the place somebody within the locker room put a peanut butter granola bar in his backpack.”

Carter’s older sister, a senior at the highschool, was additionally harassed, Shawna tells PEOPLE.

“There have been youngsters on the crew which have created faux accounts on Instagram,” Shawna tells PEOPLE. “They’ve been so horrible and nasty to her.”

Shawna went to the college board in November to report the incident, and “at that time, they opened an investigation on the bullying. They determined that it didn’t qualify as bullying.”

A consultant for the Lake Travis Unbiased College District tells PEOPLE, “Underneath the Texas Schooling Code, bullying is a really particular conduct, and is outlined as an act or sample of acts that bodily harms a pupil or materially and considerably disrupts the academic course of. Upon concluding our investigation, it was decided that the authorized parts of bullying weren’t met. Nevertheless, in lots of cases, even when the authorized parts of bullying are usually not met, the district addresses behaviors that don’t meet expectations in coverage or applications.“

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Shawna claims that “once they interviewed my son, they stated he did not ‘look bullied.’ “

In a press release issued to PEOPLE, the college district says, “Instantly after the incident, the District initiated investigations on quite a few ranges. The occasion was not investigated as a bullying incident till the guardian of one of many college students concerned reported it as such in November 2023. After listening to the guardian’s issues, campus administration reached out to the guardian concerning potential bullying. Underneath our Scholar Code of Conduct and Extracurricular Code of Conduct, college directors, coaches and administrators work collectively to evaluate all information and circumstances surrounding a specific occasion and decide acceptable disciplinary motion or sanctions.”

In line with state statutes shared by the Texas Schooling Company, bullying is outlined as “bodily harming a pupil, damaging a pupil’s property or inserting a pupil in cheap worry of hurt to the coed’s individual or of injury to the coed’s property; is sufficiently extreme, persistent, or pervasive sufficient that the motion or risk creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive academic surroundings for a pupil.”

However as the college district tells PEOPLE, “Each the Assistant District Lawyer’s Workplace and the County Lawyer’s Workplace had been consulted to evaluate potential legal expenses. Whereas these businesses could advise on the weather of an offense, they don’t make any last determinations. Technically talking, these businesses didn’t open a case concerning this incident. As a substitute, these businesses and their representatives supplied steering to the district. Working with the businesses recognized within the earlier response, the Lake Travis ISD Police Division decided legal expenses weren’t warranted. Because of this, Lake Travis ISD Police closed its case on December 6, 2023.”

For the Mannons — who who’ve three kids in complete, together with a sixth grader within the Lake Travis college system — their future is unsure, as they’re planning to maneuver all their kids out of the district.

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Carter has already switched faculties.

“I felt like the college is now not a protected place for him, mentally, bodily. I did not belief the district anymore to maintain him protected,” Shawna tells PEOPLE.

The mother of three can also be working with lobbyists to assist kids like Carter.

“We’re working to get a legislation in place to guard youngsters with meals allergic reactions from assaults like this,” she stated. “We additionally wish to redefine the definition of bullying within the state of Texas.”

“If you ask anyone, ‘Might this kill you?’ and then you definately simply do precisely what you simply requested… This isn’t a prank or joke,” she tells PEOPLE. “This might have killed him if it was if it was on a water bottle, if it was on his face masks, his helmet, this stuff would have gotten into his system and he would have been in anaphylactic shock.”

She provides, “I would like these boys to grasp that this might have killed him.”

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