<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I am sending this again and in 2 parts. I now it is rather long but I feel all the comments made are valuable to anyone dealing with the public schools.I am sorry for any inconvenience. For some reason thelast section went through yesterday but this didn't. In all there are 3 different emails.
  
Here are the results of the survey.There were a total of 67 responses. 

   10 (a) had never heard of 504

  28 (b) heard of 504 but didn't have a 504 - Out of these:
             15 had casual or verbal arrangements with the school
               3 said they didn't trust the school to be able to provide GF food
               6 had children who weren't in school yet
               4 had no special arrangements

        12 (c) have 504 Plans. Of those, 3 already had them for other 
disabilities prior to   
            Celiac diagnosis.

   7 (d) had an IEP (Individual Education Plan) which is for special ed 
   
   2 Homeschool

   6 were requests for information 
   1 was information (Carol Roberts)
   
   In  1  case the school offered 504 but they (family) didn't get one

I have included some excerpts from some responses.it is quite long but I am including it since many people asked for a summary. I also has 2 people who offered to help any one with questions. you can email me for their names if you like:

1. This entry from St. John'e list serve August 2002 basically tells how to go about setting up a 504 plan in your school:
"To all those parents who have children in public schools in the USA
There is a federal law which makes it mandatory for school systems to meet
the needs of children who have special health problems. They do not have to
have any learning difficulties.
I would certainly support any and all cooperative interactions with the 
child's teacher.
The official route would be to send a polite request to the Superintendent of 
Schools with a copy to
the School Principal, the School Nurse, and the Director of Special Needs. A
meeting should be held which would plan accommodations for your child. You
would need to have an official letter from a physician documenting the
diagnosis. A letter from a dietitian describing how to meet the needs would
be helpful.
At the planning meeting the School Food Director should be present. You
might request that a dietitian be available to consult with food staff,
which the school should pay for. The child's teacher should be present and
it might be helpful to have someone like a school psychologist or school
counselor to be present so that she may understand and help with any social
issues. The meeting should generate an Individual Health Plan. While formats
or terms might differ by state, the basic law is federal.By all means be polite and informal, but know your child's rights. This is a
civil rights issue."

2. "We did not know the name of a plan, but have worked with the food
service director to modify the menu for our son.
We met with the food service director and went over dietary restrictions.
Then we went over the line items of the menus and made reasonable changes.
The school system is purchasing substitute items for the gf items on the
menu.  Some items we will bring in ourselves, like brownies and French toast
sticks.
We gave the food service people a laminated picture of
our son so that it could be placed on his tray. On the back of the picture
is his name and dietary restrictions.  That way if his regular serving
person was not there, any one would know to match up the picture with the
child.  And he know to ask for the tray with his picture on it.  We are in
steady contact with the food service director and server and are as helpful
as can be to make this a positive experience for our son and school
personnel.  We did notify his teacher and school nurse when we started
school lunch so that everyone would be aware in case there was a problem.
To date we have been very successful."

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*