Sheila Giancola, school nurse Sheila Giancola, school nurse (Photo Jackie Rybeck)

While girls would need the consent from parents to visit the clinic, they wouldn't have to inform their parents they were seeking birth control under the Maine state law.

The vote held on October 17 brought on heated discussion within the Portland School Board that transcended to throughout the city, across the entire state and all over the nation within just a day, bringing up such questions as: Does this promote more sex among middle schoolers knowing that they have access to birth control pills?; Will middle schoolers have sex regardless of what is offered at this clinic, so is it better to give them the necessary protection?; Who is responsible if and when a middle school child becomes pregnant?; Should the schools really be able to dispense birth control to children as young as 11 without parental consent?

The topic has left many school districts around the state questioning their own policies within the health clinics and nurses' offices, and whether or not it is time to change the way their system is run. So what is the policy regarding prescriptions to students at MSAD 15 schools? What happens when a middle school student in Gray-New Gloucester approaches the school nurses wondering about birth control?

Presently, there is no health-based clinic in the towns of Gray or New Gloucester that students can go to receive prescriptions such as birth control. According to Sheila Giancola, a school nurse at Gray-New Gloucester Middle and High School, there are only a few school systems in the state that have health-based clinics available to students, Portland being one of these school systems.

As for what medications can be given out at the middle and high school in Gray-New Gloucester, according to Giancola, she can only hand out medications that support the child's well-being throughout the school day. "We offer medications for allergies, such as inhalers or EpiPens, or medications for Attention Deficit Disorder," said Giancola, "and all medications must be signed for by a physician and the parents."

She went on to say that if a student came up to her wondering about how to receive a prescription like birth control, that she would refer him or her to a physician or have them talk to their parents or guardians. According to Giancola, the subject of a health-based clinic for students in which medications, such as birth control, could be dispensed has not been brought up or discussed as of late.

"A school-based health clinic would have to be voted on by the community or the school board," Giancola said. "There has been no discussion of it that I know of. Right now, we do not dispense anything other than medications for allergies and things like that."