School rules

So the Diva cam home from school early yesterday with a headache and a tummy ache. She actually gets quite a few headaches for a 12 year old and we're working on figuring out why.

Our school has a rule prohibiting drugs of any kind. That includes Ty*lenol and Ibuprofen. If a child needs Ty*lenol or Ibuprofen or even their inhaler, they must call their parents/guardian to come administer the stuff. I found out there's a way around this, which is nice for children with chronic conditions or those that must take medication during the day (Rit*alin, for example). Their parent/guardian fills out paperwork describing the specifics of the medication, purpose, dose, etc. The school nurse then faxes this info to the child's doctor and IF THE DOCTOR SAYS IT'S OK, the nurse keeps the medication in her office and the child goes to her to have their medication administered. So, if I want my daughter to have an Ibuprofen, without me delivering it to her, that's the route I have to take.

Seems like a bit much for an Ad*vil, no?

Usually the Diva calls me and I dutifully deliver the Ibuprofen to her. She knows about trying to self soothe before leaping for the drugs...hydrate, rest (if possible), quiet (if possible). At school it can be hard to accomplish this so more often than not, I will bring her an ibuprofen.

As I may have mentioned, I work from home for a hospital that's about 2 hours away. I used to drive there two to three times per month, but that has substantially decreased lately. Because I could not bring her medication if she needed it on those days, I gave her a tiny pill bottle to put in her book bag with TWO otc strength ibuprofen in it, just in case she needed it. When I did this, I knew I was making a mistake. No, not that I was giving it to her...but that the pill bottle I chose to use was a little Ty*lenol bottle. With ibuprofen in it. In my defense, I figured it was better than an apothecary style medicine bottle with NO label on it. Doesn't matter now...turns out the Diva would have gotten in trouble either way.

When she called me to tell me she didn't feel well, she was near tears. It turns out, for whatever reason, instead of calling me yesterday she decided to take one of the ibuprofen that she had in her bag. When she didn't feel better after an hour, she decided she wanted to come home. She went to the office to call me and they instructed her that she needed to see the nurse before she could call home. While with the nurse, it came up that the Diva had already taken an ibuprofen. It seems that having contraband ibuprofen is on the same level as having a dime bag. The nurse went up one side of my daughter and down the other, and there was even mention of the fact that my daughter could be suspended for this infraction.

WTF???

I haven't yet decided how I'm going to handle this. I understand rules are rules. But seriously, does anyone else think the nurse went just a little too far with this? I really would appreciate feedback on this one folks, because I am stuck somewhere between understanding policy and indignation at how my child was treated.

I don't know. I never smoked AstroTurf. ~Tug McGraw, when asked if he preferred grass or artificial turf, 1974