Wednesday, May 23, 2001
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Wednesday, May 23, 2001 |
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School board reviews policies By MONROE
ROARK
Meeting for the last time before the end of the 2000-01 school year, the Fayette County Board of Education spent Monday night considering a number of potential policies and measures for the coming year and beyond. The school system is updating its policy concerning the administering of medication to students by school staff. The most recent proposed policy was reviewed by school system attorneys before being discussed at Monday's meeting. Under the proposed policy, the principal or a staff member designated by the principal would be responsible for administering or assisting the student in self-administration of medication, as well as documentation of that process and storage of the medication. For over-the-counter medication, written authorization by a parent or legal guardian is required. For prescribed medication, a licensed physician must also sign the authorization. All medications and authorizations would be brought to the school by a parent, legal guardian or designated adult, preferably before the start of the school day, according to the policy. No more than a 30-day supply of any medication would be kept at school. Under certain circumstances, students with conditions that are possibly life-threatening could carry their medication (inhalers or glucose tablets, for example) on their persons, if a physician gives written documentation that such a need exists. The proposed policy will be studied and considered again at next month's school board meeting. The board also is reviewing the school system's policy concerning field trips. Superintendent John DeCotis told board members Monday that this has become necessary due to some conflicts that have arisen in previous years. Each teacher typically is allowed three field trips per year, not including school-wide or grade-wide trips. Many of the problems have stemmed from everyone wanting to take field trips the final weeks of school, DeCotis said. This can be a problem because there is not enough transportation for every class, and some classes that have completed their curriculum may be looking to just take a free day instead of a field trip that is educational in nature. A proposed new policy concerning field trips would require requests to be submitted ten days in advance and would not authorize any trips for the first two weeks or last two weeks of the school year. Exceptions would be made for academic and extracurricular competitions. The field trip policy will also be reviewed at next month's board meeting. In response to questions that arose from last month's Coca-Cola proposal, a detailed list of answers was furnished to the board and discussed Monday night. Coca-Cola has proposed an exclusive bottling agreement with each school that could result in extra funds being raised by those schools in proportion to the sale of drinks in vending machines and at concession stands. Some concerns were raised regarding possible use of other brands, such as products donated by grocery stores. Coca-Cola representatives assured school officials that the bottler would not be policing school events looking for other brands. Also, every school in the county does not have to sign an agreement for other schools to benefit. The schools that choose not to participate would not receive the same financial incentives as the ones that do get involved. More discussion of the agreement will take place at the school board's June meeting.
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