Sen. Bob Huff is pressing the Assembly Education Committee to pass on Wednesday a CTA-opposed bill that would have teachers and other school personnel play the role of nurses in a medical situation that could harm the student “patient” and put the educator and school district at risk of losing desperately  needed funds in a liability hearing should anything go wrong.

Specifically, Huff’s SB 161 would allow educator “volunteers” to administer Diastat (a valium compound) into the rectum of a student suffering from a specific form of seizure. Wrongly applied, the rectal “injection” could harm the student.

The dangerous measure treats a symptom – instead of the real disease – plaguing California’s schools. Cuts of some $20 billion have decimated public education and exacerbated shortages of nurses on campuses. SB 161 is a poor substitute for the real prescription – a large, long-term injection of funds into schools.

Educators, nurses, parents and others are aghast at the proposal, which could have a teacher removing a student’s clothing in the middle of a class to administer the medication, while the student is potentially thrashing about violently in the throes of a seizure.

California law does not even allow highly trained paramedics to administer this drug – but SB 161 would make it okay for teachers to do so.

For more information about SB 161 (Huff)  and how to help defeat it, go to CTA’s Take Action page.

This link will take you to a  Federal Drug Administration publication that describes Diastat medication and how it should be administered.