ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140037
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTER
Schools can't monitor all medicines
IN RESPONSE to your Jan. 7 news article, ``Roanoke Co. medicine policy to limit aspirin to 1-day dose'':
As a high-school student, I am grateful the county cares enough about its students to set standards for our protection, but I think those who set the standards, as well as parents and others, need to realize that elementary, middle schools and high schools are not hospitals.
It was stated in the article that a parent of a Northside Middle School student observed students getting into a file cabinet and taking medication. It seems the person in charge of watching over the medication was absent. A substitute should have been filling the position, but the parent who observed the incident and other parents need to consider a couple things:
* If a child has to take a prescribed medicine, that child has probably been informed of the dangers of the medicine, and will not take too much of it or give away any of it to other students. If the child doesn't realize the dangers, then the parents and/or doctors are at fault. If your child has to take any kind of medicine, he or she should be fully aware of what is being taken and what that medicine can do.
* Schools do not have enough time to monitor every child's medical intake. If a person were to take a seat in a school office for one day, he or she would see secretaries, teachers, custodial personnel, students, librarians, etc., rushing in with problems, inquiries and other issues. Trying to handle a long list of chores makes it hard for administrators to always be on the lookout for who's taking what medicine.
Again, I think it's great that my peers and myself are being somewhat protected. But this protection isn't going to be perfect, and persons in our community need to realize this.
CHRYSTAL JONES
SALEM
Rome's fall is wrongly cited
I AM TROUBLED by recent letters to the editor that suggest we, as a country, should design our laws in accordance with what God is supposed to have said in the Bible or we will go the way of ancient Rome. (Presumably to hell in a handcart.) There seems to be a certain confusion of both political and historical facts.
First, this country is not a theocracy but a democracy. And, as such, our laws are made according to the collective wishes of the citizenry, not to suit the adherents of any particular religion. Nothing in our Constitution says that everyone, regardless of his or her own religion, has to do as conservative Christians say.
Second, Rome lasted as a republic and then as an empire from approximately 507 B.C. to A.D. 313, before the emperor of Constantine adopted Christianity as his favored religion - a run of 820 years without the benefit of Christianity. After that, the original Western empire lasted only another 163 years, until 476.
Given that track record, one is tempted to suggest that Rome fell because it adopted Christianity and thereby ticked off traditionalists and the citizens of outlying provinces, rather than because of sin and carryings-on, which is what various letter writers have implied.
Rome disintegrated because it got too big for its britches and overextended its borders until it became unwieldy. It was damaged from within by ambitious generals who all wanted to be emperor, and from without by successive waves of Germanic invaders being pushed westward themselves by invading Huns. The political rise and fall of nations is rarely a matter of anyone's morals.
Does it matter why Rome fell? Yes, because the easy assertion that Rome fell because it disobeyed God is just that - an easy assertion with no truth to it. And, as such, it ought not to be used to back up arguments that have little else going for them.
AMANDA COCKRELL
ROANOKE
Teachers earn every cent they're paid
IN RESPONSE to Jeffrey T. Morris' Jan. 8 letter to the editor, ``Be thankful for any salary raise'':
I taught school in Roanoke for 27 years, and if any teacher was drinking coffee before his or her 10-to-12-hour day, it was on the go. Who does Morris think makes the extensive plans and preparation required for every lesson? Is he aware of the committee meetings, workshops, extra project work and conferences required of every teacher in Roanoke? Did his friends who lost their jobs have to accumulate the equivalent of six college credits every five years?
As for a lounge to sit in to drink coffee, there was none. Every nook and cranny was used for lessons and projects involving students and their needs.
The cars in the parking lot? I worked for mine. I earned every cent I got. It took me five years to pay for my car.
Perhaps Morris's friends who lost their jobs can, while they are out of work, volunteer some of their time each week in a Roanoke school and see firsthand how teachers spend the taxpayer-supported time.
FRANCES BLEVINS
BLUE RIDGE
LENGTH: Medium: 94 linesby CNB