The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has given a whole new meaning to “ChapStick Challenge.” A student there learned this when he brought a canister of the lip balm onto his school’s campus without having filled out the appropriate medical forms. The “medicine” was confiscated on the spot.
According to Spectrum News Charlotte, the child’s parents were none too happy with this development. His mother is quoted as saying, “His entire mouth is red, just raw from him licking his lips all day.”
With temperatures uncharacteristically low for Charlotte, N.C., the mother’s pique is understandable. But the school district is standing its ground.
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The mother … was told that CMS requires a medical authorization form with a doctor’s signature as well as a questionnaire indicating how often the student should take the medication.
The school’s nurse supervisor, the mother says, later responded to her objections, explaining that ChapStick has ingredients to soothe and heal cracked lips, and is, therefore, medication.
If the entire kerfuffle were not already silly enough, Spectrum News notes that the district’s Parent Student Handbook makes no mention of the policy regarding over-the-counter “meds.”
In the end, I suppose the incident is all to the good. It demonstrates that these schools teach a valuable life lesson — how to suffer fools — without even realizin that they’re doing it.