Public Schools in Washington, DC, Sign Agreement to Ensure Appropriate Training and Access to Diabetes Care for Students

In time for the beginning of this school year, DC Public Schools (DCPS) took a major step toward providing access to essential care for all its students with diabetes. DCPS, which oversees the school experience of all children living in Washington, signed an agreement with the US Department of Education requiring two employees at every school to be trained to assist any enrolled student with diabetes in case of a diabetes-related emergency. These employees will now know how to administer insulin and inject glucagon. While this resolution only affects children living in the District of Columbia, this is a great first step for all of the estimated 215,000 children (<20 years) with diabetes in the United States. The agreement is the end result of a lawsuit brought by Latesha Taylor, whose young daughter was not able to gain access to diabetes care when a school nurse was unavailable. On such occasions, Ms. Taylor was required to leave work and go to the school to ensure her daughter received insulin on time – failing that, she was forced to keep her daughter out of school as the only way to ensure proper diabetes care. We hope this will prove to be a winning model for school districts all across the country. –AW