RCAS to discuss student medical pot use at next Board of Ed meeting

RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Rapid City Area School District is working out how students can receive their prescribed medical cannabis during the school day.

The Associated School Boards of South Dakota collaborated with the Department of Health and the Department of Education to establish this model policy for districts. RCAS is proposing the Board adopt this model policy to serve as a guide for staff.

Community Relations Manager Katy Urban says the policy is “cut-and-dry” in regard to how students can receive prescribed marijuana.

“If there is a student that needs medical cannabis and they need it administered during the school day they have to have a caregiver come into the school and give it to them – we can’t store it on school grounds, we can’t have our nurses give it,” Urban says. “And then we have to have all kinds of documentation that shows that they do have a prescription for it.”

Urban says the program will include “very strict guidelines” about what is necessary for student medical cannabis use.

“For us it’s just about making sure that it’s all done properly and that we’re following the law and everyone else is as well,” Urban says.

The Board of Education will address the medical cannabis policy at their next meeting on Tuesday, October 5 at 5:30 p.m.