Worried about teen zig; diabetes, school policies and syringes

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I can't believe how hard it is to find out any information on the subject of diabetic teens and their rights in school when it comes to carrying syringes so I turn to the best place to get information....forum friends!


Teen zig is a 17 year old boy who's a senior in high school. He's been diabetic since age 7.

As a freshman he did get into trouble. His mom and dad were going through a horrible divorce and he was taken out of his mother's home by CPS basically because she didn't treat his diabetes and take care of him so his growth was stunted for the two years she had primary custody.

He got suspended for pot. He went to the "clean and sober high school" here (which it's very fortunate that we have that option) and he did great. He passed all of his drug tests, he did well with his grades. Then Junior year he went to another alternative school and again, good grades and didn't get into trouble.

Now he wants to return to his high school for his senior year and his first day back he is a target...the school yard woman (the kids call her the yard narc) walked up to him and threatened right off the bat to have him arrested for being on campus. He had to inform her he was now an ENROLLED student again. Sheesh what a biotch.

Then the meeting with the school nurse who accused him of being high right there in front of his dad. He just woke up from a nap on the couch before they went to the meeting and his eyes were a little red. His dad had been with him and she accused him right there in front of his dad. That didn't go over well.

Now here's the part I need help with... THEY WON'T ALLOW HIM TO CARRY SYRINGES IN HIS BACKPACK TO SCHOOL. WFT???

The nurse basically said they are going to search him and if he has needles he'll be kicked out of school. Now let me be real here...


He is 17. He walks home after school or goes with friends. If he is not allowed to have any syringes, that means on his way home he has no way to take insulin. Because of not being monitored for two years, organ failure etc. are very high risks for him because of his blood sugar being constantly high. The school has syringes, fine, but this kid is used to giving himself insulin and he will do it after school, I just know it and carelessly leave a syringe in his stuff somewhere I just know it - he's a careless teen boy.


So first, no matter how hard he has worked to better himself, he's a target right off the bat because they are still treating him like a punk kid so he's not getting a fair second chance at all.

Then, they are going to use anything as a pre-text to search his backpack and bust him for needles.

Last - it seems very unfair that he is not allowed to have syringes for AFTER school and Before he can arrive home or be a slave to having to go home for syringes after school.

It's a huge stigma for a kid. I'm just now working hard with some aestheticians to get his acne cleared up so he can feel better about himself. He's way shorter than all the other boys, now he's got some acne and he's a diabetic which makes him feel inferior and now he's got a giant bulls eye on his head to be expelled.

All he really wanted to do was go back to his high school, do some high school kid things like prom and graduate.

I feel so sorry for him and I want to find a way to put the school on notice that I will have ZERO TOLERANCE for them if they don't work with his dad and the nurse in allowing him to have syringes.

What do you think?

Will they allow a supply of syringes to be left at the nurses office for him to use? Could he go there when he needed to and still give himself the injection but allow the nurse to supervise so that the school feels better?
Could his Dr.'s office assist? Perhaps a call about medically necessary treatment to prevent organ failure from the Dr. to say the school principal would prompt them to be a bit more flexible.
Sorry. Being caught in such things is mentally exhausting.
He has one more year. Need to get through it best he can then go on and do something else. I recall HATING my last year of high school. Most of the teachers [save a couple notable exceptions] were largely apathetic. The administration were such misreable bastards that it clouded my view of authority for years to come and I viewed my final days there much like doing time. I tried to stay under the radar and avoid any problems I could. In retrospect that was unfortunate. I could have gotten a lot more out of the experience had I felt like I had some stake in the school or if I was able to view the experience as something other than a prison camp.

Well thank you for posting on my thread here: update!!! All is well, the kid got A's and B's and is working hard. Dad had a meeting with the school peeps, counselor, nurse principle etc. They are going to back off him and let him handle his disease the way that is best for him. REFRESHING. Just when you think people are just idiots who take a paycheck and bitch about their jobs while they sit on their thumbs--- VIOLA - real people who will listen.

I told him some stories of my mother and her battles with the school board on my behalf growing up. I said, "I'll be there when you need the big guns kid". I only pull out the part of my mother in me when the times call for a Die Hard female McLean character to whirl in there and shake things up. I hope he never needs it because calling on the spirit of Trudi is exhausting as well.

Thank God high school is only high school right? Just have to get him through this year with no girls getting pregnant, no criminal charges, no overdoses, and in one piece. Skimpy goals but that's all you can do with little people whose voices sound deep like an adults but who have no clue and especially no clue that they have no clue