To the Editor:

It has been quite while since I have had a jaw-dropping moment when reading a newspaper article. However, I have just had one!

I refer to School Board candidate Scott Martin's comments regarding the necessity for a registered nurse, or nurse's aide, in every Fairfax County Public School clinic. He said, "There's nobody in the clinic. There's a table there, there's a curtain, and there are pharmaceuticals all over the place."

One of the adjunct duties of personnel in elementary schools is to provide coverage in the clinic during the infrequent times the clinic aide is unavailable. When I retired last year after 23 years as the principal's secretary at an elementary school, I had worn that "clinic lady hat" hundreds of times. And the protocol for handling pharmaceuticals was rigid and unyielding. There is no wiggle room. All medicines are locked until such time as they are needed. A very specific form is filled out with each dispensation of medicine. The medicine is re-locked immediately and never, ever in 23 years have I seen any medicine out of the locked cabinet. At our school, it just didn't happen, and I doubt very, very seriously that it is the norm in any Fairfax County Public School.

Mr. Martin's remarks have impugned the integrity of every clinic aide and secretary in the county. One has to wonder if he has exaggerated this scenario, what other exaggerations have come from his camp.

Claire Randall