Doctor's Note Needed to Apply Sunscreen at School?

[BiscuitintheBasket]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/school-sunscreen-ban-angers-parent/story?id=16638754

It was scorching pain that could have been avoided.



Violet and Zoe Michener came home from field day so burned that their mother rushed them to the hospital.



The sisters aren't just fair-skinned. Zoe has a form of albinism that makes her particularly sun-sensitive.

"Yeah, I was crying about my sunburn," Zoe said.



Mother Jesse Michener of Tacoma, Wash. said she regrets not putting sunscreen on them that morning since it was raining.



Even so, doctors recommend re-applying every 2 to 3 hours when outside but that's against their school rules.





They couldn't even reapply sunscreen without a doctor's note. They couldn't carry that in their backbacks," said Jesse Michener.



The school district said it has to ban sunscreen because it's state law.



"Because so many additives in lotions and sunscreens cause allergic reaction in children, you have to really monitor that," said Dan Voelpel, Tacoma School District Spokesman.



Sunscreens are regulated by the FDA as an over the counter drug.



Many American schools don't allow them without a doctor's note. In fact, California is the only state to allow sunscreen in school without one. With millions of kids gearing up for summer camps and daycare where they'll be exposed to midday sun, the situation has doctors worried.



"Having a sunburn in childhood dramatically increases your risk of skin cancer later in life," said dermatologist Doris Day.



Day believes even though suncreen allergies are very rare, they don't justify a ban. "I can't see any justification for any school to tell a child that they are not allowed to apply sunscreen," she said.

 

[winos5]

Seems silly. Doesn't pass the common sense test.



Here's the part I don't get. If her child has a form of albanism, and this was such an issue for her kids, you'd think the school would have been informed and the sun screen issue addresssed at the beginning of the year. I don't think the blame falls only on the school.

 

[BiscuitintheBasket]

Yea I agree that the blame is not all on the school. However, I was just surprised by the need for a doctor's note I just about every state and wonder how well known this is to parents.



I know that schools handle students differently that when I was young, but I do remember a teacher applying sunscreen to my face on a field trip when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Then again back then no one would think twice about the gesture...today the helicopter parents would go after the teacher for using the wrong brand and SPF.

 

[CaveMan]

I have never heard of this before. I just thought that preventing sunburn was common sense and more important than a few minor side effects. Bad burns as a youngster definitely sets you up for more frequent and severe burns as an adult.

 

[LordKOTL]

I'm really wondering who the limpdicks were that made this a state law.

 

[bri]

Even when I was in school you had to have a note for everything. I had to have a special note to be allowed to carry my inhaler with me. Otherwise, you had to have orders from the doctor for medicines and they had to be kept in the nurse's office and dispensed by her. Hell, I even had to have a note from the doctor saying I should be allowed to use the bathroom when I had bladder/kidney infection.

 

[sth]

Even when I was in school you had to have a note for everything. I had to have a special note to be allowed to carry my inhaler with me. Otherwise, you had to have orders from the doctor for medicines and they had to be kept in the nurse's office and dispensed by her. Hell, I even had to have a note from the doctor saying I should be allowed to use the bathroom when I had bladder/kidney infection.

They made you produce a note to go pee? Wow I know they made us ask for notes to do some stuff but not to pee. Especially those little kids, they would be peeing their pants all the time. You should have stuck it to the man and taken pee breaks when you didn't have to go.

 

[bri]

They made you produce a note to go pee? Wow I know they made us ask for notes to do some stuff but not to pee. Especially those little kids, they would be peeing their pants all the time. You should have stuck it to the man and taken pee breaks when you didn't have to go.

To just get up and run to the bathroom when I needed to. They expected you to go between classes. When you have a bladder infection you have to pee often, at least I do.

 

[LordKOTL]

Unfortunately the schools are digging themselves their own graves on this--and it's mostly the parents' fault.



No matter which way the schools go; lax or strict, it's going to cause incidents to slip through the cracks. I blame the parents--they think their kids are too innocent, stupid, ignorant, or naieve to look out for themselves. I reality, I think the kids themselves can and will adapt to their isues far better than their parents ever could.

 

[Pez68]

All of this is likely a result of parents and their frivolous lawsuits against schools. People suing because their child borrowed some other kid's lotion and got an allergic reaction to it. Some stupid horseshit like that. I hate this country and the "protect us from ourselves" bullshit laws that are so prevalent.

 

[phranchk]

What's also bad is that many schools now require a doctors note on file to bring lunch from home instead of eating the shitty ass school lunch.

 

[JOVE23]

They made you produce a note to go pee? Wow I know they made us ask for notes to do some stuff but not to pee. Especially those little kids, they would be peeing their pants all the time. You should have stuck it to the man and taken pee breaks when you didn't have to go.

But it's cool to pee your pants.