PregnancyFamilyEducation Blogs
Subscribe to The Chatterbox's blogApril 16, 2009
Birth control pills will get you suspended
A recent article in the Washington Post highlighted an interesting conflict in schools today. A teenage girl was suspended for 2 weeks for taking her birth control pill during lunch, violating the school's "no pill" policy.
I understand the need to curb drug abuse in schools, but in a nation struggling with sky-rocketing teen pregnancy rates, what message does this send? Be responsible for your health, and you'll be punished? Would a teen boy getting caught with condoms face the same punishment? I don't think so. That may not be quite the same, but you get my point.
According to the school's handbook, a student caught high on LSD or any other drug would receive a 5 day suspension. The hefty 10 day suspension this teen received was the same if she had brought a gun to school. Are you KIDDING me? As the article rightly points out, "to put birth control pills in the same category as illegal drugs and handguns stigmatizes responsible behavior". I could not agree more.
In my opinion, this action taken by the school is grossly ignorant. This school needs to take a close look at their policies, consider the teen pregnancy rates plaguing the nation, get off their power trip, and perhaps send their administrators to a sex ed class.
What is your opinion on this matter? Do you think schools should stick to their policies, with no exceptions? Or should the policies be rewritten to allow birth control pills to be taken at school?
- Tags: School, Child Drug Use, Birth Control
What about other prescription drugs? What is the school's policy on those? What if a child needed to take antibiotics or some other pill? Would the "no pill policy" apply? Some women take birth control for medical reasons not just to prevent pregnancy. There should be a set time for the student to visit the nurse to take their medicine/pills if it's a visibility issue they are concerned with. These are prescribed medications! I don't understand why they are being punished for that.
Although I understand the no pill policy because it is hard for the teachers to know what the kid is swallowing---all they see is a kid taking a pill--that pill could be an anti-biotic or it could be speed. I still think there has to be a better way to control the presciption drug issue.
I would say to the kids, you have to take a birth control pill once a day, at the same time of the day--why not pick the time to take it to not be during the school day.
I do get very tired of the mindlessness of zero tolerance policies. Rules and regs are wonderful but there are humans involved in this and there is this old thing called common sense. Let's think about things, let's look at what is good for our kids and what is bad for our kids and make the decisions accordingly instead of blindly without thought.
Marti
http://www.familyeducation.com/home/
I agree that there will be times when students need to take Rx meds on a schedule. But the schools don't need to compromise their policies or controls. Our district allows prescription drugs to be dispensed through the school's nurse's office. Parents bring the needed portion of the prescription to the office and it's kept available for the nurse, or other adult, to dispense to the student as needed. Yet it is still kept secure and under the control of the school.