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Ohio parent concerned about pill bottle prize at school

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – A Cleveland Elementary school parent said he was shocked to see his second-grader carrying around a prescription pill bottle.

He was even more shocked to learn that it was given as a homework prize.

Dayton Public Schools acknowledges the bottles were given out and that a teacher has given them out for some time.

Part of their statement reads:

One of our teachers gave clean, unlabeled prescription bottles for her students to hold coins for purchases of popcorn.The teacher is known throughout the school for helping students understand the importance of re-using our resources.”

“We want DPS families to know our employees would not place any student in harm’s way and we all take the extra care necessary to ensure that.”

Marcus Kincaid can’t understand how it’s safe or responsible to encourage kids to be in possession of pill bottles.

“The pill bottles have residue on the inside of them. I mean this is very inappropriate for a child to have,” Kincaid said.

The school district said after investigating, they found the teacher had properly cleaned the pill bottles.

Clean or not, Kincaid said he thinks this is a bad idea.

“This is very unacceptable for a kid to have in their possession. Or even taught to open.”

School officials told WISH-TV sister station 2 NEWS that the teacher will no longer use pill bottles.