“Have you seen what schools in New York are doing now?”
That’s what Laura asked from our kitchen this morning. I walked into the room with her and she pointed to the television where a short segment on the morning news was just going off.
To put this into context: Students cannot bring any form of medication to school without having their parent completing a lengthy form for the school nurse. Doing so can get you in serious trouble.
So, if you son has asthma, he cannot carry his medical inhaler with him without an annual “case-by-case” review from the school nurse. If your daughter is allergic to bees, she cannot carry an Epi-Pen without a lengthy annual “case-by-case” review from the school nurse.
Yet, the school nurse can dispense Plan B to a girl as young as 14 without asking or even notifying her parents.
According to the FDA and Plan B’s own web site, the age requirement for the drug is 17. Yet the New York Board of Education has unilaterally decided to ignore that requirement and proceed as they see fit.
A single dose of the medication costs between $50 and $90. For a school system that continues to struggle with a shrinking budget, I wonder if providing free “Morning After” pills to students is really the best use of taxpayer dollars. New York City schools have for years provided free condoms to students.
No Where to Run
In my opinion, this is dangerous. We have a school board making medical and family decisions without consulting with the FDA or the child’s family.
If you would rather not have your children exposed to such decisions, you have little recourse. You can, fill out paperwork to say that your daughter may not participate in the program. But that’s little comfort since she’ll still be exposed to the information and culture.
You can move to a different school district. But that’s easier said than done. In today’s economy, many people are happy to have a job. Trying to find a new one in a different city is not something we can expect to do easily. It’s a tough job market out there.
It’s no wonder that more and more parents who can are opting to homeschool.
What Can We Do?
The activist mentality is not limited to New York School systems. Other local communities have had their share of politicians and appointed officials who try to impose their personal beliefs far beyond the role that government was tasked to do by the founding fathers.
The Federal government, which is constitutionally limited in its power, has usurped states rights and imposed its will by withhold funds unless states acquiesce and adhere to what the Federal government wants.
The concept of liberty seems to have been lost along the way.
But we, the people, are not powerless. We can and should take an interest in our community to make it better. How?
- Pay attention to local issues. Watch the news; read the papers; know what is going on.
- Vote your heart. Continue to prepare for tough times, but don’t give up on the republic. Participate in the system.
- Voice your concerns to your elected officials. Let them know your perspective and that you vote.
- Be intentional with how you raise your kids. Don’t allow the government to do it for you. It’s up to you to instill your values, your vision, your beliefs in your kids.
- Continue to prep. We know deep down that the world is heading for rough times. Continue to prepare for the future regardless of what the world does.
The world had change greatly over the past 50, 20, or even 10 years. The world in which we know live doesn’t appear to be sustainable for a lot of reasons. Voting and trying to change things for the better is like trying to swim upstream. But I, for one, am not willing to give up yet.
I will take responsibility for me family. I will prepare for the future. And I will try to make the world a better place as best I can.
PreppingToSurvive.com 
September 24, 2012 at 10:08 am
i’m just an everyday joe and i hate politics… truthfully i see a trend that is bibically substantiated. i see prepping is our way of surviving until He comes. we fight the evil where we can… our government in all it’s forms is corrupt beyond repair… right down to school boards… our system of govenment would work if it was run as our forefathers intended… for the people and by the people insteadit’s the people who run it no makes it unrecognisable…
September 26, 2012 at 6:17 am
Yes, Mike I! Our system of government has drifted significantly from the form that our forefathers laid out for us. Unfortunately the concept of liberty has been slowly eroded away.
Thanks for the comment.
Joe
September 24, 2012 at 10:30 am
This practice serves only to promote promiscuity. Vomit is next so It might take a while for me.
September 26, 2012 at 6:21 am
It also promotes a sense of irresponsibility for actions.
The thing that really gets me is that the school system is making this decision. Parents must opt out of participation. It is not the place of the school board to make these kind of social experiments. These decisions should reside with the parents.
September 24, 2012 at 1:20 pm
There is really too much in this post to answer in one comment. It would be interesting to see a definition of “activist mentality.” You make a fast jump from the decisions of one local school board to the federal government’s tendency to impose conditions for obtaining money on the states. But as far as the school board’s decision to allow girls as young as 14 to receive the “morning after” pill, I can’t help feeling sympathetic with your point of view. That does seem young. But in reading the original story, I note that 7,000 girls are getting pregnant and that about half get abortions. How many abortions would be avoided under this policy? I don’t know. What I do understand is that conditions in NYC are different than conditions on the island of Maui where I live, they are different than in the small New Mexico towns where I’ve lived, they are different than in the cities of California and Texas where I’ve lived. As far as the cultural changes taking place, that is just a natural part of human cultural evolution. Try to imagine men from 1612, 1712, 1812, 1912, and 2112. As each man looks forward or looks backwards one hundred years they would be made very uncomfortable by the cultural norms in the world of that time. It is natural to become disillusioned by the world as we grow older, for it begins to reflect the mores of our children and our grandchildren rather than the mores we grew up with.
September 26, 2012 at 6:42 am
I appreciate your comments, Stan. From what I’ve seen, we don’t always see things the same way, but you always challenge my thinking and spur more consideration in a polite and well thought out way. I appreciate that.
You’re right. In this post I didn’t fully develop how the federal government has usurps states rights. Maybe I’ll do full post one day on it, but for now I’ll give a couple of examples.
The constitution limits the reach of the federal government. It cannot interfere with matters that are purely within a state. Recognizing this limitation, the federal government has devised a way around it: control the purse strings.
When the federal government wanted a national speed limit, federal highway dollars were withheld from states until they acquiesced. When the federal government wanted a standard national drinking age, once again highway funds were withheld from states that disagreed.
It’s not a far leap in today’s government to expect it in other matters.
You’re right, the cultural norms in NYC are very different than in Nebraska, South Carolina, and Hawaii.
But I’m not just appalled at the moral aspect (as astounding as that it by itself). I’m also bothered by how the government (in my mind) has dramatically overstepped its bounds in this case.
We pay taxes for the education of our kids and that betters our community. This is not education. This is interference into personal matters of the home in my opinion.
Thanks again for your well-reasoned comments.
Joe
September 26, 2012 at 7:16 am
well said Joe
September 25, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Unfortunately, telling the school that you don’t want your kids receiving birth control at school may not be enough. I watched a documentary in which a school employee stated that even if the parents made that request, the school would not honor it.
September 26, 2012 at 6:21 am
That smacks of “we know better how to raise your kid than you do.”
September 26, 2012 at 12:07 am
I think that this is a HORRENDOUS mistake !!! Not only does this ENCOURAGE sexual activity it’s showing our children that there are easy ways out of your responsibilities !!! The fact that there is an age limit on the drug itself says to me that this isn’t something for children to be taking and I know I would be taking legal action if my daughter was in that school district and was given that pill by her school !! I am not a religious person so my point of view has nothing to do with that. Just a personal thing. I believe that parents need to be TEACHING their children the difference between right and wrong and to accept responsibility for their actions.
This is wrong and the school, aka the government, is taking the role of the parent. Regardless this is a direction that people should be concerned about happening everywhere else !! Just because it’s only happening in New York right now doesn’t mean that other school districts in other locations around the country might not want to do it as well !!!
September 26, 2012 at 6:43 am
“This is wrong and the school, aka the government, is taking the role of the parent. ” Well put.
September 26, 2012 at 10:09 am
And don’t let me catch you drinking an extra large soft drink with that pill. We will have to fine your parents.
September 26, 2012 at 10:13 am
I laughed out loud on that one, Joe Dirt.
Thanks!