(1) Public school districts and private schools which conduct any of grades kindergarten through the twelfth grade may provide for the administration of oral medication, topical medication, eye drops, ear drops, or nasal spray, of any nature to students who are in the custody of the school district or school at the time of administration, but are not required to do so by this section, subject to the following conditions:

(a) The board of directors of the public school district or the governing board of the private school or, if none, the chief administrator of the private school shall adopt policies which address the designation of employees who may administer oral medications, topical medications, eye drops, ear drops, or nasal spray to students, the acquisition of parent requests and instructions, and the acquisition of requests from licensed health professionals prescribing within the scope of their prescriptive authority and instructions regarding students who require medication for more than fifteen consecutive school days, the identification of the medication to be administered, the means of safekeeping medications with special attention given to the safeguarding of legend drugs as defined in chapter 69.41 RCW, and the means of maintaining a record of the administration of such medication. Policies adopted in accordance with this subsection (1) may not permit a school nurse to delegate the responsibility to administer student medications to a parent-designated adult who is not a school employee;

(b) The board of directors shall seek advice from one or more licensed physicians or nurses in the course of developing the foregoing policies;

(c) The public school district or private school is in receipt of a written, current and unexpired request from a parent, or a legal guardian, or other person having legal control over the student to administer the medication to the student;

(d) The public school district or the private school is in receipt of: (i) A written, current and unexpired request from a licensed health professional prescribing within the scope of his or her prescriptive authority for administration of the medication, as there exists a valid health reason which makes administration of such medication advisable during the hours when school is in session or the hours in which the student is under the supervision of school officials; and (ii) written, current and unexpired instructions from such licensed health professional prescribing within the scope of his or her prescriptive authority regarding the administration of prescribed medication to students who require medication for more than fifteen consecutive workdays;

(e) The medication is administered by an employee designated by or pursuant to the policies adopted pursuant to (a) of this subsection and in substantial compliance with the prescription of a licensed health professional prescribing within the scope of his or her prescriptive authority or the written instructions provided pursuant to (d) of this subsection;

(f) The medication is first examined by the employee administering the same to determine in his or her judgment that it appears to be in the original container and to be properly labeled;

(g) The board of directors shall designate a professional person licensed pursuant to chapter 18.71 or 18.79 RCW as it applies to registered nurses and *advanced registered nurse practitioners, to delegate to, train, and supervise the designated school district personnel in proper medication procedures; and

(h) To be eligible to be a parent-designated adult, a school district employee not licensed under chapter 18.79 RCW must file, without coercion by the employer, a voluntary written, current, and unexpired letter of intent stating the employee's willingness to be a parent-designated adult. If a school district employee who is not licensed under chapter 18.79 RCW chooses not to file a letter under this section, the employee may not be subject to any employer reprisal or disciplinary action for refusing to file a letter. A parent-designated adult must be a volunteer, who may be a school district employee. The professional person designated under this subsection is not responsible for the supervision of the parent-designated adult for those procedures that are authorized by the parents.

(2) This section does not apply to:

(a) Topical sunscreen products regulated by the United States food and drug administration for over-the-counter use. Provisions related to possession and application of topical sunscreen products are in RCW 28A.210.278; and

(b) Opioid overdose reversal medication. Provisions related to maintenance and administration of opioid overdose reversal medication are in RCW 28A.210.390.

*Reviser's note: The term "advanced registered nurse practitioner" was changed to "advanced practice registered nurse" by 2024 c 239 s 1, effective June 30, 2027.

Declaration—2019 c 314: See note following RCW 18.22.810.

Application—Short title—Effective date—2017 c 186: See notes following RCW 28A.210.278.

Severability—Headings and captions not law—Effective date—1994 sp.s. c 9: See RCW 18.79.900 through 18.79.902.

Severability—1982 c 195: "If any provision of this amendatory act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [ 1982 c 195 s 4.]