NEW WASHINGTON — Administrators at Buckeye Central Local Schools have decided to take precautions when it comes to food allergies in order to best serve their students.

The Buckeye Central Board of Education was told during its meeting Friday, from now on, only commercially packaged (store bought) food items are to be brought into the school for classroom treats. Items must be in their original packaging with the list of ingredients on the package.

There also will be a “food allergy table” for the K-12 lunches for students who pack a lunch that doesn’t contain food that could be dangerous to others due to foodborne pathogens.

EpiPens, for emergency use, will be available and there also will be staff members who are trained to recognize anaphylactic reactions and how to administer epinephrine.

Currently, EpiPens are not legally allowed on school buses unless they belong to a specific individual—this is due to the fact that EpiPens may be used as weapons against the bus driver or other students. Many individuals, including superintendent Mark Robinson, are looking to get that changed in the event something ever does happen to a student on a bus.

Also during the meeting, Kent Buehrer gave the board an update on the construction on the facilities project of building a new preschool and kindergarten wing.

“Construction has started, and we have been blessed with reasonably favorable weather,” Buehrer said. “So, as far as progress, the front parking lot got stripped because they needed that dirt and that’s kind of why they got started a little bit earlier. The building pad has been all stripped and some of the new parking lots near the preschool have been done, and the bus facility has been stripped.

“The sewer and water lines have been delivered to the site, the exterior footings on the preschool and kindergarten have all been put in, and the interior footings have all been put in on the kindergarten wing. They plan to finish all the footings on the preschool wing next week.”

Though it is a very aggressive construction schedule, the progress on the building is still on track and will remain on track, weather permitting.