Glad I'm Not in Public School Anymore

Just finished reading about the Supreme Court ruling on the case of Savana Redding, who was strip searched at her middle school for prescription ibuprofen*. Thankfully, the Court ruled in favor of Redding, 8-1. What was truly disturbing was Clarence Thomas' dissenting opinion, in which he argued that strip-searching was okay because the Court had already passed rulings giving school officials a lot of "leeway" in searching students. He went on to suggest that the ruling was awful because it would suggest wanna-be drug dealers that it's possible to conceal drugs in one's undergarments. As though teenagers would have never heard about the extremes to which people go to conceal illegal drugs inside their bodies.

Another issue the article mentions, but does not elaborate on, is school restrictions on OTC and prescription medications. Redding's school banned OTC and prescription drugs (with the exception, presumably, of the nurse's office). While these bans have the intention of preventing drug abuse/selling, this seems like a small problem in comparison to the needs of students whose well-being, and in some cases, their lives, depend on prescription drugs. Forcing students to excuse themselves from class to go to the nurse's office to get their prescription medicine or to get Tylenol for a headache seems ridiculous after elementary school. For a diabetic with a high blood sugar, or a student with a seizure, who need their medecine immediately, a 3-5 minute wait for medication could have life-threatening consequences. In the much less serious case of a student with a headache, whose ability to concentrate and work would be greatly improved by an OTC pain reliever, the trip to the nurse's office is a waste of missed class time.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090625/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_strip_search