Anonymous wrote:

It's quite clear that this section arose from problems that parents experienced with schools getting involved in the medication decision and that Congress decided to put a stop to that. Perhaps they didn't legislate every linquistic variation of possible ways of this, but the intent seems clear to me -- schools should stay out of decisions to medicate. See the10/22/07 response to the Inhofe letter to DoE, which says in part, "In your letter, you indicate that it was brought to your attention that “there were some cases where schools were acting as physicians or psychologists by strongly suggesting that children with behavioral problems be put immediately on some form of psychotropic drugs.”

The statute says they can't require her to medicate the child, tell her to medicate the child, or advise her to medicate the child. They haven't done either of those things. They're asking her to tell them what she and her family decided in this regard. Schools make this request every time they give you a form from the nurse's office to fill out that asks you to list your child's medications. They also didn't tell her that she was legally obligated to answer the question (although from the post they certainly implied she was not being a team player). They're not threatening to withhold anything from her if she doesn't answer. Although you can certainly raise a legal argument based on the statutory section, it doesn't answer the question of whether the school did anything legally inappropriate by making the inquiry, which OP claims was one of two components of her inquiry here. There is a 2007 Washington District Court case that held that a behavior plan that stated that a student was required to take a prescription medication at school that he had already been prescribed and was taking at home did not violate section 1412(a)(25) because it wasn't requiring him to "obtain a prescrption." While I don't agree with that decision, I don't think it is at all clear that the statute provides that it is legally inappropriate to inquire what the parents themselves have already decided.
I agree that she should practice a more neutral non-responsive response if she doesn't want to answer in the future.

Anonymous wrote:

The teacher/administrator might be appropriate while in your presence but if you've never hung around inside the teacher's lounge, you have no idea how condescending *some* teachers can be when talking/gossiping about their students and their families. Don't assume that your information stays confidential at all.


I'd still rather hav every teacher in the school know that we are working on getting the help he needs to be more successful in school (even if that means medication). I don't think there's any stigma regarding medication, and I'm certainly not ashamed about it.

+1

The teacher/administrator might be appropriate while in your presence but if you've never hung around inside the teacher's lounge, you have no idea how condescending *some* teachers can be when talking/gossiping about their students and their families. Don't assume that your information stays confidential at all.


I'd still rather hav every teacher in the school know that we are working on getting the help he needs to be more successful in school (even if that means medication). I don't think there's any stigma regarding medication, and I'm certainly not ashamed about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's an innocent question. A lot of parents want the school to know if their child is on medication. A teacher can observe how well a dosing schedule is working for a child and may have suggestions for a different dosing schedule that works better. They also should know about medications in case of a medical emergency.

A teacher is not qualified to be offering opinions as to dosing schedule of any kind of medicine. Medication is to be prescribed by a doctor and monitored by the doctor or pharmacist. I would be highly annoyed if a teacher had comments as to my child's medication schedule. It is none of her business.

Now, if the teacher wants to provide me with objective feedback -- "You child is falling asleep every day just before linch -- thought you should know" that's just fine. Then it is up to me to determine if my child's allergy medicines need to be tweaked, for example. But I would NOT want a teacher suggesting changes to medications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was very forthcoming with my son's school regarding his medications and outside evaluations by doctors. I started to become more guarded about what I shared once his medications were becoming more important to the school than what he needed in the classroom. Multiple people would ask him "did you take your medicine today?" any time he was not 100% compliant with their expectations.

We had this experience (from the principal) and "maybe you should try more medication mom."

Yes! This has been my experience (as a teacher, unfortunately) and it is part of the reason why as a mom, I wish to keep my child's medication or lack of it private.

I feel like a lot of people posting here in favor of sharing information about meds with teachers have had a much better experience in the schools -- or else are unaware of how condescending or inappropriate teachers CAN be (not all of them of course) when they have certain information.

When a teacher or administrator shows signs of being condescending or inappropriate, THAT is when I start to withdraw or withhold information. Not before that. I don't go into a meeting assuming the worst of people. But that's just my life philosophy.

The teacher/administrator might be appropriate while in your presence but if you've never hung around inside the teacher's lounge, you have no idea how condescending *some* teachers can be when talking/gossiping about their students and their families. Don't assume that your information stays confidential at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was very forthcoming with my son's school regarding his medications and outside evaluations by doctors. I started to become more guarded about what I shared once his medications were becoming more important to the school than what he needed in the classroom. Multiple people would ask him "did you take your medicine today?" any time he was not 100% compliant with their expectations.

We had this experience (from the principal) and "maybe you should try more medication mom."

Yes! This has been my experience (as a teacher, unfortunately) and it is part of the reason why as a mom, I wish to keep my child's medication or lack of it private.

I feel like a lot of people posting here in favor of sharing information about meds with teachers have had a much better experience in the schools -- or else are unaware of how condescending or inappropriate teachers CAN be (not all of them of course) when they have certain information.

When a teacher or administrator shows signs of being condescending or inappropriate, THAT is when I start to withdraw or withhold information. Not before that. I don't go into a meeting assuming the worst of people. But that's just my life philosophy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was very forthcoming with my son's school regarding his medications and outside evaluations by doctors. I started to become more guarded about what I shared once his medications were becoming more important to the school than what he needed in the classroom. Multiple people would ask him "did you take your medicine today?" any time he was not 100% compliant with their expectations.

We had this experience (from the principal) and "maybe you should try more medication mom."

Yes! This has been my experience (as a teacher, unfortunately) and it is part of the reason why as a mom, I wish to keep my child's medication or lack of it private.

I feel like a lot of people posting here in favor of sharing information about meds with teachers have had a much better experience in the schools -- or else are unaware of how condescending or inappropriate teachers CAN be (not all of them of course) when they have certain information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was very forthcoming with my son's school regarding his medications and outside evaluations by doctors. I started to become more guarded about what I shared once his medications were becoming more important to the school than what he needed in the classroom. Multiple people would ask him "did you take your medicine today?" any time he was not 100% compliant with their expectations.

We had this experience (from the principal) and "maybe you should try more medication mom."