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pdouglasdMar 23, 2011
Really!!!!!
4Herp2Derp0Mar 23, 2011
This is just f**king stupid. Prescription pills have identifying marks on them, and most bottles now describe the pill inside, and anyone with internet access can easily find out what kind of pill they possess. If the pill matches the description and the prescription was legal, what the f**k is the issue? Internet 101 should be a required class in school now. If these dumb pricks knew how to use it than this whole mess could have been avoided and taxpayer dollars could have been wasted another way.
laurahoustonMar 23, 2011
It is crazy isn't it, whats worse is if any teacher used common sense..they would have been fired.
zizzybaloobahMar 23, 2011
Whether or not it was valid, necessary prescription is irrelevant. This is entirely the product of draconian, 'no-tolerance' policies, coupled with administrators and bureaucrats eager to justify their cushy jobs and cover their asses in case anything tragic does happen.
4Herp2Derp0Mar 24, 2011
I believe that the fact that it was a valid prescription is extremely relevant.
digghasnoethicsMar 24, 2011
This is lawsuit happy america - surely they could get a swift injunction requiring the school to continue education?
That could then be followed up by a usual lawsuit specifying unwarranted privacy infringement, incompetence, etc. and cases directed at the educators looking to ensure they are removed from teaching.
Success or fail, that would put paid to action without thinking. Nobody wants the be dragged through the courts, and the lesson would get around.
benesmashMar 23, 2011
When I was in middle school I took ADD medication, well I grabbed my medication in the morning and went into the garage to get a bottled water to take it. When I went outside my friends I walked to school with were outside and I didn't want them to know I took medication so I put it in my pocket and I was going to take it when they weren't looking, but I forgot about it. During the school day I reached into my pocket to grab my money for lunch and the pill fell out and one of the teachers saw it. They took my to the principals office and I told them what it was so they called my mom to confirm it. I didn't get in trouble they just walked me out to a fountain and watched me take it and said don't forget to take it again. I guess my school wasn't ran by commies.
darthmeatloafMar 23, 2011
Apparently not. In the city where I went to school there was a kid expelled under the "Zero Tolerance" drug policy for having prescrition drugs with him at school.
He was a Grand Mal Epileptic.
The principal said "We're sorry about your seizures, but we have a zero tolerance drug policy in this school, so we HAVE to expel you."
At the school board appeal to his expulsion, the principal did nothing more than defend his actions by repeatedly stating that "we have a zero tolerance drug policy in our school. If we make exceptions for one student for ANY reason, where does it stop?"
In the end, the district had to assign him an at-home tutor for the remainder of the year so he wouldn't have to repeat, seeing as he was expelled 6 weeks into the year...
earthboundx5Mar 23, 2011
lol, sounds identical to a situation that happened to me, except substitute medicine for a knife, principal for vice-principal, and remainder of the year for remainder of the semester.
darthmeatloafMar 23, 2011
Except what happened to you makes what happened to the kid at my school a bigger pile of bulls**t, because you had a WEAPON and lost out on a semester, while this kid had LIFE SAVING MEDICINE and got expelled for pretty much a whole year.
earthboundx5Mar 23, 2011
exactly, thats my point, lol
earthboundx5Mar 23, 2011
oh, and not to be an ass, but this has always bugged me, especially from the whole incident. A knife is a TOOL not a WEAPON, but yes its classified as a weapon in schools (justifiably so).
darthmeatloafMar 23, 2011
I agree completely. You can kill more people with a utility knife than you can with some epilepsy meds.
It just floored me that they are so over-concerned about drugs in school that they expel people, yet when a kid was beaten to death by three gang members with golf clubs a half a block from my school, there was no reaction at all, because it didn't happen on school property...
digitaldeadstarMar 23, 2011
Typically aren't nurses given prescriptions to give out to the specified student at the appropriate time? That being said, to be expelled over that and having to end up going to another school? That's extreme in any case. A simple letter or call to the parents to let them know she shouldn't bring it to school most likely would've cleared up the issue. Instead there was some big, long, drawn out conflict that probably won't see an end for awhile.
Kids at that age often start resenting authority figures, especially educational ones and tend to take their education less seriously. Things like this just advocate that kind of behavior.
benesmashMar 23, 2011
I had a nurse give me my medication in elementary school, not junior high.
MSaltmarshMar 23, 2011
yikes man, this is pretty crazy.
scarredupMar 23, 2011
That sounds like my high school. Imagine being 18 and the school not considering you competent enough to keep Ibuprofen or cold medicine in your locker and being told you had to go to the school nurse. Of course most people just ignored it.
woollymittensMar 23, 2011
Zero tolerance is for people with a likewise IQ.
sabachMar 24, 2011
Game over, you win.
laurahoustonMar 23, 2011
The zero tolerance policy sucks.
had to look and see when all this "zero tolerance' crap started, the 'war on drugs' ramped it up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance
johnomazzMar 23, 2011
It doesn't matter if it was f**king sugar pills. The rule is there for others that do bring drugs to school trying to pass them off as a normal prescription. Zero tolerance is there because of the people that break the rules, not the ones that follow them.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
nairebisMar 23, 2011
The issue here isn't the rule necessarily, it's the draconian enforcement of destroying a girl's school year (seven weeks out of school!) over forgetting about a legitimate prescription. If you catch a kid with pills, then you check them out. If they're legit, you back off and give a warning. You don't act like authoritarian nazis.
neondistractionMar 23, 2011
Yeah man, there's a HUGE black market for acne medication. It get's you f**ked up.
travelsonicMar 24, 2011
Oh really?
OF COURSE it f**kING matters.
Zero Tolerance is there because people are too f**king lazy to exercise common sense - it doesn't take a genius to read a prescription, a label, and do some PROACTIVE investigating instead of this.
BertfaceMar 24, 2011
Apparently it in fact does.
ndupelMar 23, 2011
The seemingly logical application of an illogical policy, resulting in a teenager's future being jeopardized... Hasn't this happened enough times by now that something should change?
angrycat70Mar 23, 2011
They're so afraid that somebody is going to catch a buzz that they'll f**k over everybody.
lastatMar 23, 2011
When I was in school I brought my meds all the time to take at lunch. Maybe she didn't have a note from her mom. LOL
lastatMar 23, 2011
When I was in school I brought my meds all the time to take at lunch. Maybe she didn't have a note from her mom. LOL
zbeastMar 23, 2011
So what happens if your a diabetic or worse yet.
you have to carry an atropine injector or some other sickness that
requires you to have your drugs on you at all times.
I know this zero-tol stuff is all about mind control but really someone needs
to rethink this type of stupid.
prettyboyfloydMar 24, 2011
The very concept of public school is "all about mind control."
Closed AccountMar 24, 2011
It's amazing how quickly common sense seems to be disappearing from the world.
garryfieldsMar 24, 2011
Common sense existed in the first place?
elmuerte17Mar 24, 2011
Yes, there actually was a time before McDonald's coffee lawsuits and giant warning labels on bleach. Folks were allowed to not wear their seatbelts, since it was their own necks and nobody else's, and children's playgrounds still had those awesome merry-go-rounds. Frivolous but still successful lawsuits pretty much eliminated the need for common sense.
mcpodsterMar 24, 2011
really! this is .... fubar
david4041Mar 24, 2011
IMO, the whole purpose of zero tolerance is to remove discretion from school administrators. School administrators (or at least their lawyers) really don't want discretion. If they have discretion, people start second-guessing their exercise of their discretion. Why did you exercise your discretion this way in this case and that way in another case? Or, why did you exercise your discretion this way for this black student and that way for that white student? With zero tolerance, common sense gets removed from the equation. Zero tolerance = zero thought.
prettyboyfloydMar 24, 2011
Gee, who knew erythromycin was so dangerous? My kids had to take it periodically throughout their childhood. Can't a school administrator or a teacher bother to read a prescription label (e.g., take 1 tablet every 4 hours, etc. call physician at 555-1212 for questions)?
I guess "zero tolerance" policies makes such critical thinking unnecessary.
gordigorMar 24, 2011
I can tell you didn't read the article (not saying the outcome was correct). The girl brought one pill with her from home and stuck it in her locker then forgot about it for several months. There was no prescription label to read.
prettyboyfloydMar 24, 2011
Did you even read the article? It doesn't say anything about "one pill." Note the first sentence of the second paragraph uses the plural "pills." How do you carry around or store more than one pill? Probably in the prescription bottle where they are usually stored.
"She placed the erythromycin on the top shelf of her locker so she could retrieve an antibiotic pill to take at lunch. And then she forgot about it.
The pills sat in her locker for months. When an administrator confronted her about them last May, acting on a tip from other girls, Hayley quickly acknowledged her mistake."
You should also check out the Washington Post article linked in the post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fairfax-schools-discipline-under-scrutiny-after-teens-suspension-for-medication/2011/03/08/ABZBiZQ_story_1.html), which says, "Hayley’s acne medication was reported by two girls who saw the bottle in her locker and told an administrator that they were worried about her."
twelve565Mar 24, 2011
Pretty Crazy!
TinyTonyMar 24, 2011
hahahaha this is the dumbest thing i've ever heard.
teachers of Rachel Carson Middle School, please do the country and future generations a favor: go back to school.
scssvopMar 24, 2011
This sounds retarded...
dontgelMar 24, 2011
I don't understand the rigidity of these schools. We are all worried about kids facing drug temptations but how are they going to respect rules that are this foolish?
Closed AccountMar 24, 2011
How dare he!!!!!
cosy18Mar 24, 2011
well i dint know and dint have any problems like this at me school in Romania this crap seams to be only on USA
keenawolfeMar 24, 2011
really! this is crazy
disastormMar 24, 2011
wtf some schools actually don't allow medicines at their school, which could potentially threaten someones life?? One of the people in the comments said their daughter wasn't allowed to carry her inhaler with her to her school despite being athsmatic and had to keep it in the gym. seriously wtf?
rockergirlieMar 24, 2011
This is just like students who take medication at a specified time (like at lunchtime) who get suspended or even expelled for taking their medication.
Many students find that it takes out of their education and impedes upon their privacy to have to walk all the way to the office, declare who you are, register your medication, and take it while under the supervision of others (and often in plain view of students and faculty). For students who need to take medication several times a day, a 20 minute walk to and from the school office can really add up.
Several female students have been suspended across the country for taking birth control pills with lunch at the advice of their doctors. Many of these girls now have records which state that they received punishment for bringing controlled substances to school. I can definitely see why one of these girls would not want their medical information broadcasted about the school, and don't see how this can be misconstrued as drug abuse.
elmuerte17Mar 24, 2011
s**t like this makes a fellow seriously consider homeschooling his kids...
mbraynardMar 24, 2011
Is anyone surprised this is what happens when government runs your school?
moonriderMar 24, 2011
Will this "zero tolerance" bulls**t ever end? It does far more harm than good and that's been obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense for a very long time.
publikjohn9Mar 24, 2011
This punishment seems a bit heavy handed.
frederick46Mar 24, 2011
no effin' way...
gkiltzMar 24, 2011
Zero Tolerance is not about fairness. Never made any pretense toward it.
xtomtomxMar 24, 2011
I really don't understand. American schools do not allow taking of medicine by students? How is that even legal?
drycountyangelMar 24, 2011
This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! What the hell is wrong with people? "Zero tolerance" does NOT mean expel a good kid because of acne medicine? No wonder we have some of the dumbest students in the world... look at who is teaching them! These people should be ashamed of themselves.
bojang1esMar 24, 2011
drugs are bad.... mmmk?
flyingsquidwolfMar 24, 2011
It's Virginia...'nuff said.
superdrew0413Mar 24, 2011
The problem with zero tolerance is that it allows for zero common sense. I can understand why such a policy was put in place, but these policies cause more problems than they solve. These policies are put in place to avoid messy lawsuits that allege that one student was treated differently than another for whatever reason (race, sex, social status). Instead, they create messy lawsuits about whether the school has the right to dole out said punishment.
Another problem with zero tolerance is it removes the student from the equation. If you have a consistently "bad" child who, for the sake of the arguement, consisently acts up or has been warned in the past of similiar behavior then that student should be punished more harshly. A student who has been in no or little trouble should be given a stern warning or a reduced punishment.
In my opinion, the girl with the acne medication should have been given a warning and at most should have been suspended. The only zero tolerance policy should be for controlled substances without a prescription and weapons (and no a butter knife is not a weapon).
On a related note, my friend works at my old high school and she told me that they have anyone in possession of a permanent marker arrested for destruction of property (graffiti). I told her having a permanent marker in your possession is not illegal. I fail to see how possessing a marker means that I graffitied anything. This would be the equivalent of charging someone for a murder simply because they own a gun. I could see the school doling out punishment, but not the law. She told me that she has seen students in handcuffs for it. I said if that ever happened to my children that I would sue them for false arrest and imprisionment.
bluenose2Mar 24, 2011
f**king Stupid!!
TheQueenofOKMar 24, 2011
This is so ridiculous!