Florida School Nurse Replaced Kids’ Adderall With Aleve
Meanwhile in Okaloosa County Florida…
A Middle School nurse was arrested and charged with stealing prescription medicine from students.
The health technician at Destin Middle School was identified as 27-year-old Makayla Crandall, of Niceville.
She has been charged with three counts of grand theft of a controlled substance, five counts of child neglect, and one count of failure to maintain narcotics records.
Crandall, who has only been employed for 5 months, is accused of stealing Adderall from the student’s medicine bottles and replacing it with aspirin or ALEVE.
Around the September/October timeframe, two parents said they had become concerned after noticing a resurfacing of behavioral issues with their children.
A mother of one of the children said she dropped off a bottle of Adderall for her daughter on September 29th but had to take her to the emergency room on October 4th due to her erratic, unusual behavior.
All the kids' medications were kept in a locked medicine cabinet. Crandall would allegedly go in, take some Adderall out, and replace it with aspirin or Aleve, depending on what the pills looked like.
The school conducted an audit that revealed at least 110 missing amphetamine/dexmethylphenidate pills from at least five students. ALEVE was found in one kid's pill bottle, and seven aspirins were found in another bottle.
Crandall was unable to explain how student medications were missing or had been switched out.
Crandall was arrested and booked into Okaloosa County Jail on Thursday. She is held on a $9,000 bond.
The Okaloosa County School District put out this statement Friday:
“A contracted healthcare employee serving as the Health Technician at Destin Middle School has been arrested by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office following an investigation into improper handling of student medication. Okaloosa County School District (OCSD) Leadership was notified by Destin Middle School Principal Dr. Belinda Small over a parent concern regarding the handling of a student’s medication on Monday, October 3rd, after school hours.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Children and Families, and Aveanna Healthcare, which provides employees to oversee the District’s school clinic operations, were all notified by OCSD leadership immediately after they became aware of the concern.”
“On Tuesday, October 4th, the individual was removed from the position and was not allowed to return to the school while law enforcement conducted its investigation."
“As Superintendent, I am appalled by the allegations,” said Marcus Chambers. “We will work with authorities to ensure this individual, if guilty, is punished to the fullest extent of the law. We fully supported the efforts by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office throughout the investigation and have mandated that Aveanna put in place additional checks and balances with regard to dispensing student medicine in our school clinics. Parents should have absolute confidence that their child’s visit to the school clinic is handled professionally and accurately. Aveanna has been a good healthcare partner over a number of years and acted swiftly in this matter to address the District’s concerns.”
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