Chester Board to Vote on School Medicine Policy
Posted on: Saturday, 13 May 2006, 09:05 CDT
By The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.
May 13--CHESTER -- The Chester County school board will vote on a new policy Monday that allows students to monitor their own health and administer their own medications while at school or during school events.
The district's individual health plans are for students with chronic health conditions -- such as asthma, epilepsy and severe allergies that require daily visits to the school nurse for medications.
Fewer than 1 percent of Chester County's 6,200 students have an individual health plan, said Jeannie Ligon of the district office.
The change is being mandated by legislation signed into law last May by Gov. Mark Sanford. Lancaster County and Rock Hill schools also have health plans that will be updated to reflect the new law.
The Rock Hill school district has 500 IHPs this school year, said Susan York of the district office.
The Lancaster County school district has 180 individual health plans, said Kathy Durbin, director of student services. The new component for students to self-medicate will be voted on by the board in June, she said.
The family Right to Privacy Act limits a student's personal health information to teachers, substitute teachers, cafeteria personnel or other personnel on "a need to know basis" to protect students' confidentiality, Durbin said. Information about students with HIV/AIDS is limited to the district superintendent and the school's head nurse.
Chester's proposed policy states that the district will grant permission for students to monitor and administer their own medication based on written authorization from a parent or legal guardian and a written statement from the student's doctor who prescribed the medicine.
The written permission also must state that district employees are not liable for any injury caused by the student who self-monitors and self-administers medicines.
Students can keep medications in their possession while in the classroom but all medicine must be kept in its original package with a pharmacy label, the policy states. Medicines also can be possessed while attending school-sponsored events and in transit to and from the school, the policy states.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.
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Source: The Herald
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