Mom Claims Teacher Gave Son Old Drug Pocatello

A Pocatello mother wants the school district to give her $4,500 on a claim that a teacher gave her 8-year-old son a drug no longer prescribed for him.

Jastone Sherer, a second-grader at Tendoy Elementary, used to take Ritalin to help him concentrate. But when he changed doctors, he no longer received the drug.

Nicole Sherer told school officials her son recently came home and told her a teacher had given him a dose of Ritalin.

“I was mad,” said Sherer, 28. “It may have been a mistake, but it could have been a costly mistake for someone else.”

Ritalin has been known in extremely rare cases to cause death.

Teacher Donna McCulloch said the boy may have been given the pill by mistake.

Nicole Sherer said she got no response when she contacted school officials about it, and hired an attorney.

No lawsuit has been filed. Sherer and her attorney met with McCulloch, Tendoy Principal Judy Thomas and school district officials last week.

Sherer is asking for $4,500 in lost wages for herself and pain and suffering for Jastone. She is a waitress at Perkin’s Restaurant and has reduced her shifts to one day a week while researching her son’s case.

Sherer also wants McCulloch to apologize to Jastone and the district to change its prescription drug policy.

Bannock County Prosecutor Deb Lantermo, who was contacted by police after Sherer filed her report, said it didn’t appear there was any criminal offense involved.