A Texas mother seeks answers after her teen son’s football teammates put a peanut butter cookie in his locker as a prank. After informing school administrators about the incident, she was told it was not considered bullying.
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Shawna Mannon said her son Carter developed a peanut allergy after he attempted to reach for a jar of peanut butter, which triggered an immediate allergic reaction. She explained to PEOPLE that his condition worsened and said even “one little peanut could take him down, could kill him.” His severe allergy was well-documented at Lake Travis High School. Yet, an incident involving an unlabeled peanut butter cookie sent him to the emergency room, highlighting the constant vigilance required to manage such allergies.
The prank reportedly occurred after Carter disclosed to his teammates that he was severely allergic to peanuts during his sophomore year. Mannon explained that the following day, he found his locker covered in peanuts, which could’ve caused him to go into anaphylactic shock. After complaining about the incident to school administrators, the Lake Travis Independent School District told her that the prank didn’t meet the legal elements of bullying. In retaliation, Carter’s teammates continued to harass him and put a granola bar into his bookbag after learning that his mom had met with school district officials.
“There was a lot of bullying that came after. The kid would flick him as he’s walking down the hall from behind. There was a lot of verbal retaliation … There was one point where someone in the locker room put a peanut butter granola bar in his backpack.”
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Carter’s older sister even became the victim of bullying, and the Mannon family decided to remove their children from the school district. Shawna is currently working with lobbyists to protect children with food allergies.
“I felt like the school is no longer a safe place for him, mentally, physically. I didn’t trust the district anymore to keep him safe. We’re working to get a law in place to protect kids with food allergies from attacks like this,” she said. “We also want to redefine the definition of bullying in the state of Texas. When you ask somebody, ‘Could this kill you?’ and then you just do exactly what you just asked… This is not a prank or joke,” she tells PEOPLE. “This could have killed him if it was if it was on a water bottle, if it was on his face mask, his helmet, these things would have gotten into his system and he would have been in anaphylactic shock.”