Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Medication Records topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parent tells Newton County School board records missing, urges review and citizen panel
Summary
At the September business meeting, a parent described eight months of inconsistent medication and clinic records for a child, said requested video evidence was deleted, and urged the board to review practices, preserve records and consider a citizen oversight panel.
A parent told the Newton County Board of Education at its September business meeting that medication logs, clinic records and video evidence related to care provided to their child contain inconsistencies and gaps and that some requested records were deleted.
The concern, raised during the meeting’s public participation period by Steven Rollerson, centered on events the parent said began Jan. 16 and have continued for eight months. “The medication logs, pill counts, clinic records do not match,” Rollerson said. He added that in some cases “the paperwork says one thing while staff later admits mistakes were made,” and that requested video evidence “was allowed to be deleted.”
Rollerson said repeated open-records requests have not been fully fulfilled. “Since Jan. 16, my family has been seeking only one thing, the truth,” he said, and urged the board to “review what has happened, ensure records are preserved, and implement safeguards so no other family experiences what mine has.” He recommended stronger leadership for student services and proposed creating a citizen panel of parents, health-care providers and community members to help develop written policies and procedures.
The speaker said he did not wish to publicly name individual employees at this time but warned he would if satisfactory change did not occur. He also urged other parents whose children received medications at Indian Creek Middle School last year to review their records.
The board did not record a formal response on the transcript. The public comment was presented during the meeting’s public participation item; no motion or board action tied to the comment is shown in the meeting record.
Background: The board’s meeting packet and superintendent’s materials noted that the evening’s agenda items had been discussed at a work session held Sept. 9, which board members referenced during the meeting. The transcript does not record any staff report in response to Rollerson’s comments during this meeting.
Questions or next steps: Rollerson asked the board to undertake a records review, preserve relevant evidence, consider structural changes to student services leadership, and create a community oversight panel; the transcript records those requests but does not show the board assigning staff to follow up within the meeting.
For reference: The public comment began during the meeting’s public participation period and ran across multiple public-comment blocks in the meeting transcript.
