By Steven Lemongello
Orlando Sentinel
WINTER PARK, Fla. — The Winter Park mom who spearheaded a bill to train school staffers to treat severe allergic reactions was thrilled when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law Wednesday — and so was her 8-year-old son, her motivation to activism.
“He was super ecstatic,” said Sherry Isler of her son, Lincoln. “We’re still on cloud nine. It’s very surreal to us. We’ve been so hopeful, and we worked so hard with so many people to create this bill. So, yeah, I’m still crying intermittently throughout the day.”
The bill, sponsored by Orlando Democrats Rita Harris in the state House and Carlos Guillermo Smith in the Senate, is aimed at the peril of anaphylactic shock, a potentially fatal reaction to foods or other allergens that can be treated simply and effectively by injections of epinephrine through a device called an EpiPen, assuming the devices are available and someone knows how to use them.
Lincoln is allergic to dairy, peas, chickpeas and lentils. His mother started her crusade when she learned there was staff on Lincoln’s campus available to administer in EpiPen in an emergency during the school day — but that might not be true if her son attended an after-school program.
Under the new law, Florida schools must train employees and contract staff working with pre-kindergarten-to-eighth-grade students to recognize the signs of anaphylactic shock and use EpiPens. They also must have a trained person available at all times when the students are on campus or participating in school activities, including extracurricular events, athletics, school dances, and contracted before-school or after-school programs.
The bill passed unanimously in both chambers. DeSantis’ signature means it will become law July 1.
“We know that this law is going to save lives as a result,” Smith said.
“It’s a real common-sense kind of bill,” said Harris, adding that Republican state Rep. Jessica Baker of Jacksonville was the co-sponsor. “She said, ‘I have a constituent in my district who has a child who has severe food allergies, and she wants to see this bill passed. How can I help you?’”
Isler originally reached out to Harris in 2023, after she asked the third-party vendor that ran Lincoln’s before- and after-school programs at Aloma Elementary School about their allergic reaction policy and received some unwelcome news.
“I was told, ‘Oh no, we don’t do EpiPens here. We would just call 911,’ and I panicked,” she said. “I told them that would be too late, he would be dead by the time an ambulance arrived, because his reaction is his airway, his throat would close up. And she just told me that she was sorry.”
Marsha Robbins, then the director of programs for that vendor, Dramatic Education, later claimed there was a miscommunication and that all of her staff were trained. But Isler heard from another parent in Orange County who had been told that after-school staff could not give details about how EpiPens would be stored or administered.
About two students in every classroom are likely to have food allergies, Isler said. Children have died of anaphylaxis in schools in Nebraska in 2022 and at after-school events in California and Jacksonville in 2023.
Orange County Public Schools updated their third-party contracts in 2023 to ensure that at least two staff members are trained to use EpiPens.
A similar bill filed by Wilson and then-state Sen. Linda Stewart failed to move forward in the 2024 legislative session, due to what Wilson said were concerns about what it would mean for high schools. This year, the bill only applied to K-8 schools.
“We changed it a little bit,” Harris said. “And I think also Ms. Isler going up to Tallahassee and talking to the committee chairs and explaining why this is needed, and bringing her son with her, really helped.”
Both Lincoln and his sister Liberty, now 6, spoke before a Senate committee last spring, just after the new bill was filed.
Even with the bill signed, “we still have more work to do,” Smith said. “Our hope is to expand this to 12th grade after we have seen a smooth implementation of the law.”
Isler said she also hopes to one day include high schools as part of mandatory EpiPen training.
“That was my original goal,” Isler said. “My understanding was that there were some stakeholders who saw some potential difficulties with the bill as it is, in regards to liability, and that high school has a lot of more before- and after-school activities. And they believe that high schoolers should be able to carry and administer their own EpiPens.”
But she worries most high school students may not realize they would now be on their own.
“Students in K through 8 will have these protections and safety net,” Isler said. “And then who’s going to tell them when they get to high school that all of a sudden it’s not there?”
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