Committee cleans up drug policy
Posted on Wednesday, March 1, 2006
BENTONVILLE — The Bentonville School Board Policy Committee on Tuesday made a few clarifications to the school system’s drug policy that bars students from possessing any medications — prescription or nonprescription — on campus.
The rule includes anything from Tylenol to Xanax. While over-the-counter pain medications may seem harmless, the abuse of prescription drugs like Xanax is growing at the high school, Superintendent Gary Compton said. "It really is a terrible problem," Compton said. "They see mom or dad take it and think it must be OK." The committee also added the term "under the influence" to the list of prohibited drug-related acts. The term will allow school officials to punish students who show the effects of having taken drugs but don’t necessarily possess the drugs. "There’s so many kids that are out of their minds because they have taken a couple of bars of Xanax," board member Joe Falcon said. "They don’t have anything on them, but they are under the influence."
The committee made wording in the drug policy clear that students can only take medicines through the school nurse, and those medicines must be given to the nurse by a parent.
Board member Travis Riggs said the strict drug policy is frustrating because it punishes students who haven’t mistreated medications. "We’ve got hundreds of good students who could bring the medicine to school and do the right thing with it," Riggs said, "but there are a few bad ones who wouldn’t."
The committee also revised the district’s sick-leave policy, adding a clause to provide time off for bereavement. Staff members will now be allowed to use up to five days of sick time in the case of the death of a family member. If more than five days are needed, an employee may request additional days from the executive director of human resources with an appeal to the superintendent. The individual must have sick days available to request additional bereavement leave.
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