Pubdate: Thu, 18 Dec 2003
Source: Tuscaloosa News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2003 The Tuscaloosa News
Contact:  http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1665
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 ( Students - United States)

SCHOOL OFFICIALS ARE OVERREACTING TO DRUGS

The cost of prescription drugs isn't the only problem that legal
medications pose for Alabama. Some of the state's schools are taking
an irrational approach to prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Schools have a good reason to be concerned about the medications their
students use. Illegally obtained prescription drugs sometimes fall
into young people's hands. Other students, not mindful of directions
or dosage recommendations for medicines purchased legally, can be
harmed if the school has no policy in place to protect them.

However, the case reported this week involving a sophomore in
Jefferson County who took a Motrin pill for menstrual cramps suggests
a rigidity in policy enforcement that far exceeds the bounds of common
sense.

A teacher saw the student swallow the pill at a water fountain and
reported her to the administration. The school prohibits any student
from possessing prescription or over-the-counter medication without
signed administrative permission.

The student argued that she was too embarrassed to ask her male
drivers' education teacher if she could go to the school office for
permission to take the ibuprofen. But the school administration
suspended her, mandating a month's mandatory attendance at an
alternative school.

The punishment for the student, who says she has a clean discipline
record and makes good grades at school, is clearly an
overreaction.

Again, schools are rightfully concerned about medications. But similar
cases of irrationally harsh enforcement have been reported in other
parts of the state.

If these cases are typical of the way public school systems handle
drug policy, it would be well for the state Department of Education to
work with local administrators to develop a set of guidelines than can
be enforced more sensibly.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin