Teacher's assistant uses child's diabetic kit, needle not changed
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on June 6, 2008 1:45 PM
Wayne County School officials say they have addressed an incident at Northwest Elementary School in which a teacher asked a student to permit a teacher's assistant to use his gluecose meter and needle.
Both the 3rd-grade student and the teacher's assistant are diabetic.
Ken Derksen, a spokesman for the schools, said in a press release that the child, his mother and the teachers involved met with school administrators to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.
"We can confirm that the incident mentioned did occur last week at Northwest Elementary in Wayne County," Derksen said in the release. "It is not something we take lightly. Our administrators did meet with the parents, the child and the staff members involved and they have handled the incident in accordance with board policy and state law. All school employees do go through OSHA blood-borne pathogens training on an annual basis and any staff members who have students with diabetes in their classrooms attend diabetes care management training at the beginning of the school year. Additional training is provided on an as-needed basis."
Carolyn Sellers, the boy's mother, said her son continued to use the meter and needle the rest of the day.
School officials admitted that a backup meter was available in the school nurse's office and had not been used.
Derksen added that the school nurse provided additional training last week to both the teacher and the teacher's assistant and both remain employed with the school system.
Mrs. Sellers said this week that she was still not satisfied with the schools' response.
"I think they showed complete disregard for my son's safety," she said. "Obviously, they are not very knowledgeable."