This week, a first-grader in Virginia died at school after an apparent allergic reaction. MSNBC reported the school did not treat the girl with any medicine, but that school said they can give life-saving medicine when they have a treatment plan and medicine on file.

KKCO spoke with School District 51 officials about what they do to keep kids with food allergies safe.

As soon as the school knows they have a child with a severe food allergy, they can start taking the proper precautions. This includes holding medication at the nurse's office and making classrooms free of foods that may cause reactions.

District 51 says it will do everything in its power to prepare for these situations, but it is up to the parents to make sure the school knows.

Thunder Mountain Elementary third-grader Breana Sinclair has a special lunch table.

"I sit at it every day at lunch," she said.

Not everyone can sit there.

"She came to sit by me and she had peanut butter and I told her she may need to sit somewhere else," Sinclair said.

That's because Breana has a dangerous peanut allergy. She gets itchy and hives first, but dangerous food allergies like this can have more serious consequences.

"We can actually have throat closure, difficulty breathing, loss of blood pressure, the child fainting. This can definitely become life-threatening, and unfortunately children can die from this," allergist Dr. William A. Scott said.

Food allergies are not uncommon.

"We see food allergies of about six percent of children, about three percent of adults," Dr. Scott said.

But school officials say they can only take the proper precautions if parents tell them.

"At the beginning of the school year, you're going to get a great big packet with a whole bunch of information, and a lot of times, it's overwhelming for parents and they just skim through it," Thunder Mountain health assistant Jeri Haycock said.

For those kids who have allergies, it is crucial parents fill out the health history sheet and alert the school of any severe reactions.

"If we don't know, we can't take care of your child. If you don't fill out the form, we don't know," Haycock said.

The school will then work with the parents to store medicine and warn other parents not to send certain foods to the classroom to keep that child as safe as possible. If a child does ingest something they shouldn't, an epinephrine pen can help treat those allergic reactions.

"Always have epinephrine usually called EpiPen available and get to the emergency room," Dr. Scott said.

Besides the school, Dr. Scott says parents need their kids, especially the younger ones, to understand what they can and cannot eat.

"I can't eat peanuts or peanut butter. Stuff like that," Sinclair said.

This way they can stay as healthy and safe as possible at school.

District 51 will work with families and doctors to create a health care plan for those students with severe food allergies.

Parents are typically asked to store the medicine in the nurse's office, however, if the doctor feels a child must carry an EpiPen with them and can self-administer the medicine, they can give permission for the student to carry it.