I don't think the issue here is whether the school is insisting that the child be medicated (which I agree with being illegal) - I read it as the school, knowing that the child is SUPPOSED to be medicated, is asking if this did indeed happen this day. Is THIS against the law? They're not doing anything like, "if you don't medicate this child we will not teach her."
In our situation - we didn't have any problem with the school asking this question. Our difficult children were SUPPOSED to be medicated - our decision - and if the teacher noticed that the kids were not 'on the ball' I ENCOURAGED them to ask (discreetly). They were not supposed to screech across the classroom angrily, "Did you get your pills this morning?" and in fact they never did.
But I did occasionally get a phone call asking me, "Did difficult child 3 get his medications today? Because he really is having a lot more trouble than usual staying on task."
I would check and report back. Sometimes I would call the school and let them know, "difficult child 3 forgot his medications this morning," and I would formally ask them to medicate him according to the previously-agreed regime. If I did not have written permission for this as a blanket arrangement with the school, I either had to fax my permission for that day, or go to the school myself to medicate him. Failing to medicate him meant that for the teacher and difficult child 3, the day was basically wasted. It is better to know early so you can cut your losses.
Back when difficult child 1 was 10, our Teachers Federation brought in a rule that teachers were not permitted to medicate kids, even with parental permission. This was really nasty - we had no long-acting medications in Australia back then and there were many reasons why a child needed to be medicated by school staff. A child might be on antibiotics; a kid might be asthmatic or severely allergic, and need emergency medications; a kid with epilepsy would need to take medications through the school day; some kids were insulin-dependent diabetics. In years past these kids ALL had to go to special schools - putting them in mainstream has meant much more responsibility beyond teaching, for our school staff. But with this nasty directive we had 18 months or more of parents having to trek to the kids' schools, several times a day sometimes, to medicate their kids. The kids were not permitted to carry medications with them. difficult child 1 was at a school over an hour's drive from home, and had to walk through city streets to where his father worked, to get his medications. A ten year old, walking through a fairly rough part of inner Sydney. Not good.
The situation now - a designated school staff member has the medications for each designated student in a locked cupboard. The student has to report to that staff member for medications. The parents have to supply a letter from the doctor; a letter from them authorising the staff member to medicate the kids with (name of drug and dosage); the medications in a bottle with a current prescription label for that child and confirming the dosage; and the teacher signs off on a sheet to indicate that the child attended to take medications.
This is only for medications which need to be taken while the child is away from parental custody. But our schools DO ask the kids, "I know you're supposed to have x medications, did you get it when you should have?"
I frankly think, in this situation, this is highly appropriate. I wish it weren't necessary, but there it is.
Our situation is far from perfect - the bas***ds never refused to medicate kids with epilepsy or diabetes, but DID refuse to dose ADHD kids "because it's not as serious." And now - if a kid with ADHD fails to turn up to be medicated (because they're impulsive, forgetful and everything else) then the schools generally will not pursue this - it makes me really angry, it does so much damage. THAT'S especially when schools SHOULD ask, "Have you had your medications? If not, report to Mrs X for your scheduled medications. She can check your chart and make sure."
I think the pediatrician in this case needs a reality check. Ideally the child is entitled to confidentiality, but teachers who teach the kid regularly will know when something is not right, and asking that question can help them and the child. This is about balancing the right to privacy vs the right to have your head on straight so you can focus on the lesson. If the child is normally on medications, is supposed to be on medications and for whatever reason there has been an error, I don't see a problem with the school asking the parent that question. If you choose to not allow the school to medicate her themselves, that is your choice. With the risk of double-dosing I would refuse too.
But in our case - when they rang and asked me, "Did he have his medications?" and I discovered he did not, I would apologise to the school. I had undertaken the responsibility of medicating my child (my reasons - not their business) but we both knew that without the medications, their job was much harder and he had an appalling day.
Marg
