RICHMOND, Va. -- A spokesperson for Richmond Public Schools said the school system will be reviewing procedures after a Richmond mother contacted CBS 6 concerned that her son gained access to an unlocked medicine cabinet at school and took extra ADHD medicine.
Cletisha Lovelace, a spokesperson for RPS, confirmed that a child was able to gain unauthorized access to an unlocked medicine cabinet in the school nurse’s office at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School on Wednesday.
Hazel Harris said she is furious that her son, who is in the seventh grade, was allegedly able to take one of his pills out of an unlocked medicine cabinet without the nurse noticing, and then take a second pill given to him by the nurse.
“My child could have taken somebody else`s medication, or he could have took medication and passed them around to other students,” Harris said.
Harris’s son, Jaheim Harris, said the cabinet was open when he visited the nurse’s office, and he took extra medicine because he didn’t think the dose prescribed to him was working.
“I just got in the medicine and took it,” Jaheim Harris said.
Lovelace said it appears the incident occurred while the nurse was attending to another student in distress, and only one pill was taken.
But, Jaheim Harris said that is not true.
Jaheim Harris
“How many times have you done it?” CBS 6 reporter Melissa Hipolit asked.
“More than once,” Jaheim Harris said.
RPS is still investigating the incident, and reviewing procedures with staff about the storage and security of medical supplies.
