She added that she doesn’t expect to revise the HIPAA laws, but that the East Meadow PTA Council’s goal is to institute a procedural system in high schools and colleges to notify students that they have this responsibility. “There should be some educational process to let them know,” La Scala said. “That in the exercising of their right to privacy, it is in their best interest to have a waiver signed giving permission for an adult to know what’s going on.”

Studies by the National Institute of Health concluded that the human brain does fully develop until after the age of 21. Additionally, La Scala noted the tendency of college students to participate in risky behavior, including the use of drugs and alcohol. “Your brain, at the age of 18, is not completely formed yet for decision making,” La Scala said. “And yet, we’re asking them to make these decisions on their own, and on top of that, that they could possibly be impaired.”

After reading the statement of concern, La Scala said she received support from both the state and Nassau PTA. “The [Nassau region] wants to help us move it forward to a full blown resolution.”

The East Meadow PTA Council’s plan, she said, is to have a resolution written for the 2014 convention.

Three other resolutions were read during the conference, two of which were adopted. The first, submitted by Susan Landini and Mary Ward, who had children go through the East Meadow School District but were acting on behalf of the Nassau region PTA, called for congress and the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production, which they said leads to antibiotic resistant infections in humans.

The second resolution, submitted by the Massapequa High School PTA, urged the New York State Department of Transportation to establish a “child safety zone point system” to roads that have more than four lanes, which would make bus transportation available in areas that do not meet the criteria under the current assessment system.