When a Fairfax County mother got an urgent call from school last month reporting that her teenage daughter was caught popping a pill at lunchtime, she did not panic. “It was probably her birth-control pill,” she thought. She was right.<\/p>\n
Her heart dropped that afternoon in the assistant principal’s office at Oakton High School when she and her daughter heard the mandatory punishment: A two-week suspension and recommendation for expulsion.<\/p>\n
“I realize my daughter broke a rule,” the mother said. But in an appeal to the school system, she reasoned, “the punishment does not fit the crime.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Just freaking nuts.<\/p>\n
Okay, I understand why school districts may be hinky about kids having pills. But a ZT policy on the matter, with a two week suspension and expulsion isn’t an effective deterrent — it’s sheer laziness. It’s “We can’t take the time to figure out whether this kid should be taking pills or not, whether it’s a legitimate prescription, whether the parents are aware — so we’re not going to bother. Treat it the same as if the kid was caught shooting up heroin and be done with it, no matter what facts get shoved in our faces.”<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\nDisgusting.<\/p>\n
Actually, it’s even worse than being caught shooting up heroin.<\/p>\n
A small portion of school health clinics across the country distribute birth-control pills to teens. But in Fairfax, even carrying the pills in a backpack is counted among the most serious offenses in the Student Responsibilities and Rights handbook.<\/p>\n
During two weeks of watching television game shows and trying to keep up with homework online, the Fairfax teen, an honor student and lettered athlete, had time to study the handbook closely. If she had been caught high on LSD, heroin or another illegal drug, she found, she would have been suspended for five days. Taking her prescribed birth-control pill on campus drew the same punishment as bringing a gun to school would have<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nBecause that makes perfect sense. Well, actually, it would make at least some sense if we were talking about some Religious Right private school who considered birth control pills sinful and evil. But this is just about lazy authoritarianism. Which means it doesn’t have <\/em>to make sense, just be obeyed.<\/p>\nSchool officials say they can’t take chances. They are concerned about liability and safety. Any pills, even nonprescription pills, could be shared with another student who has allergies. And it would be difficult to enforce rules if students were allowed to take some pills but not others.<\/p>\n
“Most people would not know the difference between birth control or some Ritalin or Tylenol or codeine,” said Clarence Jones, coordinator for the Fairfax school system’s safe and drug-free youth program. “If they are just pulling something out of their pockets and sticking it in their mouths, we don’t know what they are taking.”<\/p>\n
Jones said the rules allow appeals and a hearing, so special circumstances can be considered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It’s too haaaaard<\/em>. It’s too diiiiiificult<\/em>. It’s eeeeassssier <\/em>this way. Wow, sounds like they’ve been learning from their students.<\/p>\nAnd I love the, “Hey, maybe there will be an allergic reaction if kids share pills” appeal to some higher purpose. Right. So something the can do two steps off campus is subject to expulsion while on campus. Brilliant. And how many kids have actually been injured due to allergic reactions to legitimate pills shared by other kids? Vs. how many lives have been thrown into tumult by stupid over-long suspension and expulsion rules?<\/p>\n
Again, the teen and parent are well aware that a rule has been broken (the meds should have been registered with and dispensed from the school nurse). But justice is not “Arf wi’ ‘is ‘ead!” at any offense. Punishment needs to be proportional to the crime. There’s plenty of other, more proportional and fair ways of addressing this. The Fairfax school board has shown it’s more interested in taking the easy totalitarian road than actually teaching their kids a useful lesson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Because taking a birth control pill at school, with the parent’s permission, certainly should be an expellable offense, right? When a Fairfax County mother got an urgent call from school last month reporting that her teenage daughter was caught popping a pill at lunchtime, she did not panic. “It was probably her birth-control pill,” she … Continue reading “What is wrong<\/i> with these people?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-daze","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28004,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/25\/the-male-pill.html","url_meta":{"origin":14479,"position":0},"title":"The Male Pill","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 25-May-12 10:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"1. Have to wonder, if this came about, how it would change the argument over contraceptive coverage in the US.2. Will also be interesting to see if there would be an uptick in STDs among males.Reshared post from +Breaking NewsSperm gene discovery may lead to male birth control, scientists say+CBS\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26804,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/02\/explaining-how-the-pill-works-to-the-four-times-married-rush.html","url_meta":{"origin":14479,"position":1},"title":"Explaining how the Pill works to the four-times married Rush","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 2-Mar-12 5:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Of course, maybe that explains in part the multiple marriages ...\"Once you wade through the bile and the realization that the country's most popular conservative radio host has devoted hours on his show to attempting to bully a woman into silence for her views on birth control, it becomes clear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31451,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/21\/the-otc-pill.html","url_meta":{"origin":14479,"position":2},"title":"The OTC Pill","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Nov-12 8:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have announced they believe birth control pills should be available in the US over the counter, rather than by prescription only. \u00a0Their argument is that the health risks of unintended pregnancies are higher than the possible complications of using the Pill without a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33436,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/30\/morning-after-pill-access-opened-up-somewhat.html","url_meta":{"origin":14479,"position":3},"title":"Morning After Pill access opened up … somewhat","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 30-Apr-13 7:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So now it's OTC for age 15+ ... but you'll need some sort of photo ID to prove age. \u00a0Which doesn't seem like it will allow many 15-year-olds to actually get access.While if my daughter decided she needed this I'd hope she'd let one or both of us (or some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9633,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/22\/end_of_a_period.html","url_meta":{"origin":14479,"position":4},"title":"End of a Period","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 22-May-06 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting article on how, increasingly, women are getting contraceptive (or contraceptive-like) treatments to basically stop their menstrual cycles -- and doing it for non-clinical reasons. Using birth-control pills or...","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/health"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1920,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/04\/09\/bang_im_dead.html","url_meta":{"origin":14479,"position":5},"title":"Bang, I’m dead","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Apr-02 10:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"A fifth grade honor student is the latest victim of Zero Tolerance policies. Ten-year-old Hailie Whatley was sitting on a bench with two other fifth-graders outside of Webster Elementary School...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}