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Girl Who Borrowed Asthma Inhaler Expelled From School
CBS4 ^ | 2/20/12

Posted on 02/22/2012 7:39:16 PM PST by Arthurio

MONUMENT, Colo. (CBS4) – A girl who borrowed a friend’s asthma inhaler at school has now been expelled.

The incident happened in January at Lewis-Palmer Middle School in Monument. Both the girls and their families are unhappy with the punishment.

The school’s punishment strikes one of the families as uneven justice. The school said the girls broke the district’s drug policy. Their families call the incident an accident and the school’s discipline heavy-handed.

For 10 days Breana Crites and Alyssa McKinney sat at home while suspended from school. The two were in gym class. Crites complained of trouble breathing, so McKinney lent out her asthma inhaler.

“I know what it feels like not to being able to breathe and I know how hard it is and I just took that into consideration,” McKinney said.

(Excerpt) Read more at denver.cbslocal.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: discipline; substanceabuse; zerotolerance
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To: Arthurio
There's more to this story. I think expulsion is too much, but I believe the school is entirely correct to punish the kids, and definitely right that kids should NOT be sharing prescription medication.

Are those attacking the school really saying that you would be fine if your kid went to school, and some other kid gave them a prescription medication to "help" them with some perceived medical problem, without your knowledge or consent, and without a medical indication?

I think people here have assumed that the other girl had asthma. If so, you should have asked yourselves, why didn't she just use her own inhaler? Turns out, she didn't.

From an earlier story: Why sharing asthma inhalers has serious consequences:

As it turned out, Crites doesn’t have asthma and wasn’t suffering an asthmatic attack. Instead of helping, the inhaler triggered an allergic reaction, which sent her to the school nurse — and soon after, the principal.

So now you know the rest of the story. Some girl with asthma saw some other girl having trouble breathing. The CORRECT thing to do would be to call the teacher's attention to the problem, so the nurse can be called.

I think the punishment is too severe, but punishment was needed.

I also don't understand why the girl who was GIVEN the inhaler got expelled, while the girl who GAVE her the inhaler wasn't. (Neither should have been). If anything, the girl who gave the drugs should have been more severely punished. The other girl was having trouble breathing, and someone said "here, use this, it will help". It's perfectly natural to in that moment, take the help.

But the girl with the inhaler should have been told the rules when she was given permission to carry her prescriptions in school. The first rule -- don't give your drugs to anybody else. That is a good rule, and the girl should learn that lesson well -- because she could kill her friend giving her prescriptions that her friend is allergic to, and got lucky that the reaction wasn't life-threatening and they were at school where a nurse was available.

41 posted on 02/23/2012 5:21:11 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Darren McCarty

The girl was carrying her inhaler as well. Schools still allow kids to carry inhalers. What they don’t allow is for those kids to give their prescription inhalers to other kids to use.

If the other girl had actually been asthmatic, she too would have had an inhaler.

My son had an inhaler for a brief time while they were trying to diagnose a breathing problem. In his case, they kept the inhaler in the office, because it was not considered a life-threatening issue. It was a bit of a pain, but we got the doctor to write two prescriptions, so he could store one at the school office, and keep one at home.


42 posted on 02/23/2012 5:24:49 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Darren McCarty
BTW, according to the link I posted before:
According to the American Lung Association, all 50 states have laws allowing students with asthma to carry and use quick-relief asthma inhalers at school. Though the specific rules and requirements can vary by state and even school district, many prohibit sharing.

43 posted on 02/23/2012 5:26:15 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Don W

Oh yeah, gotta watch out for these lezzes kissing


44 posted on 02/23/2012 5:47:37 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Aww quit making sense. You’re just a nanny state jackboot. /s

The student was trying to be helpful, but did something unwise. A talking to with the school nurse and principal ought to have sufficed.


45 posted on 02/23/2012 5:52:08 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: HiTech RedNeck

I generally fight against the stupid intolerance policies of the schools. With two kids going through the system, I’ve had more than my share of run-ins with rediculous policies.


46 posted on 02/23/2012 6:41:40 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: HiTech RedNeck

It’s obvious you’ve not had an affectionate daughter that had very close friends. Here’s a clue: some girls are known to kiss and hug each other in a NON-sexual manner, especially in the lower grades. Lezzies indeed! Think of how you were kissed by your parental units. Does that make them molesters?

I’ve never heard of an asthma inhaler causing allergic reactions, but then again, when I went to school asthma was extremely rare. I didn’t even meet anyone with asthma until I was in the 11th grade!

We cleaned the air up, took the lead out of gasoline, and asthma exploded. Now it seems like 1/3 of the kids out there have asthma. Talk about unintended consequences...


47 posted on 02/23/2012 9:28:09 AM PST by Don W (You can forget what you do for a living when your knees are in the breeze.)
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To: Arthurio
Zero tolerance = zero ethical analysis. Right up the humanists’ dead end alley.
48 posted on 02/23/2012 9:30:16 AM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: Fiji Hill
Just about everyone in authority who works at a school has to have a college degree, and many have advanced degrees. How can so many of these people be such morons?

Because, at the end of the day, the type of 'college degrees' that are pursued by these folks who end up in these positions equates less to 'educated' and more to 'totally indoctrinated'...

the infowarrior

49 posted on 02/23/2012 9:48:05 AM PST by infowarrior
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To: Don W

Perhaps an increase in sedentary living, staying indoors where the house dust is, had something to do with it. I doubt that lead fumes were staving off asthma.


50 posted on 02/23/2012 3:25:22 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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