'FCAT jitters' tablets unnerve grandmother

What two Westchase Elementary fourth-grade teachers apparently thought was a creative way to calm students about to take the FCAT made at least one caregiver fear the teachers were sending a different message - that taking drugs while under stress is OK.

Sandy Young walked into her grandson's fourth-grade classroom last Thursday and saw pill bottles on each students' desk.

Young said she immediately questioned fourth-grade teacher Beth Watson about the pill bottles, which were filled with pieces of small mint candy.

"She said it was nothing but some mints; it was just something special for the kids, for the FCAT to mellow them out," Young said.

But Young said the pill bottles go against the lessons of teaching children to say "no" to drugs.

"I don't care if it's mints or not," said Young, 60, of Tampa. "If it's in a prescription bottle, it's a drug."

Young said the bottle reads in part: "Watson's Whiz Kid Pharmacy. Take 1 tablet by mouth EVERY 5 MINUTES to cure FCAT jitters. Repeated use may cause craft to spontaneously ooze from pores. No refills. Ms. (Deborah) Falcon's authorization required."

Students in fourth, eighth and 10th grades will take the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test starting today.

Westchase Elementary received one complaint since pill bottles were distributed, said school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe.

The principal met with the students on Monday to confirm the bottles contained mints. The students were asked to dump the mints in a separate container and the pill bottles were thrown away, Cobbe said.

She said the bottle idea was tied to a book the students recently read, "George's Marvelous Medicine," about a boy who concocts potions to try to change the disposition of his cranky grandmother.

The teachers won't be disciplined, and it wasn't their intention to promote drug use, Cobbe said.

"I know that is not the intent of the teachers," Cobbe said. "That is not the outcome they would wish for."