School officials in Jeffersonville, Indiana have suspended a middle school student for touching a pill in an act that stretches the zero tolerance policies to a new extreme. Rachael Greer was suspended because she was given a pill by another student and refused it. However, the school decided that, by holding the pill, it was “possession.”
I have written columns criticizing these zero tolerance policies (here), but this one takes the cake.
Greer was given the pill in a locker room at River Valley Middle School. The pills were the prescription ADHD drug, Adderall. She gave it back but, when the other girls were caught, the school decided that she was in technical “possession” of the pills. One of my greatest gripes in these cases is the bizarre interpretations of school officials who cloak draconian and nonsensical actions in quasi-legal rationales.
Janis Joplin missed how one pill makes you suspended:
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she’s ten feet tall
For the full story, click here.
what do you mean? how about i push you around don’t stop then start hitting you and kicking you and the only way for you to get off of me is to push you and we both get suspended how would you feel you can’t run you sound like an ignorant person i remember this girl came up to me and punched me in my face and started to putt on my hair couldn’t get her off of me so i pushed her she tripped me you think i’m going to sit there and take a hit no! dumbass it is called self defense why was i suspended because i defended myself i did nothing to provoke her i didn’t even talk to her to know her but my friend found out she fought me because she was bored
@Beth I don’t see how they can suspend one person for fighting, it takes two people.
And I am guessing that in a locker room there are plenty of other people that saw what happened.
Plus your rights don’t stop there. If the school does nothing about it, then get your parents & file a police report.
Once your parents & the cops start sticking their noses into it, the school will be forced to look into these assaults.
I went to river valley last year and for 6 and 7 grade and the school is so messed up that in my sixth grade year I got suspended for using self defense and the other girl got nothing. I’ve had my head banged into locker in the locker rooms and been bullied all throughout middle school but nothing ever happened they aren’t allowed to have cameras in the locker rooms because people get undressed and it’s against the law to put cameras in locker rooms.
To “Mespo” and “rafflaw” who are trying to blame this on conservatives: do you have any evidence for this? Or is this just your assumptions based on the political lenses you see everything through?
You might be interested to know that “zero tolerance” in schools originally came about largely due to accusations of racial bias and differing treatmeant – something that I dare say, was pushed by liberals, not conservatives.
A note about a teacher that did it right in spite of the school system:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/03/cast-raises-money-for-real-stand-and-deliver-math-teachers-fight-with-cancer/1
“Cast members from the 1988 film Stand and Deliver are raising money to help cover medical costs for Jaime Escalante, the beloved high school math teacher in the film, who is battling cancer.”
(story links to EJO blog for contributions)
*
It’s shaping up to be a bad 12 months for working class hero’s:
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/09/real-norma-rae-dies-of-cancer-after-insurer-delayed-treatment.html
“Real ‘Norma Rae’ dies of cancer after insurer delayed treatment
The North Carolina union organizer who was the inspiration for the movie “Norma Rae” died on Friday of brain cancer after a battle with her insurance company, which delayed her treatment. She was 68.”
(In caase anyone missed this)
The school system has a law department, I’m sure. Why didn’t they formulate the zero-tolerant policy? I bet the ACLU is going to be all over this, no charge to the parents, and the school system will become the butt of many jokes! Excellent job!
These ridiculous zero-tolerance policies would come to an end if the parents of the students had a meaningful voice in the process of formulating school policy. This is typical nanny state mentality.
The insolence of office….
Hamlet, Act 3.
Mespo,
What if the pill had lodged in the tread of her shoes and she didn’t even know it was there? With this school board, if she had smelled the pill she would be pulled into this zero tolerance crap.
“White Rabbit” was not sung by screecher Janis Joplin. It was sung by Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane.
Just sayin . . . .
I was wondering if the drug capsule dropped to the floor and then bounced up lodging in the laces of her sneakers would she likewise be deemed in possession of or handling the “contraband?”
Mespo,
The school boards in these conservative areas especially, are out of control with this zero tolerance crap. I do not understand how refusing a drug gets you in trouble. I wonder if the administration has a zero tolerance on dui’s that any employee or school board member is involved with?
Duh:
“… students can be disciplined for possessing, handling, using, transmitting or being under the influence of any controlled substance, prescription drug, alcohol, inhalant or other contraband.”
**************
Given that language, the policy is overly broad and thus arbitrary and capricious. A student could be suspended under the handling verbiage for picking up a teachers aspirin after it fell from her purse. Even the National School Board Aasociation cautions that:
The policy should use clear and concise
definitions that do not unintentionally include
behavior that the school board does not wish
to cover. Vague and overly broad policies are
more vulnerable to court challenge because
they do not adequately inform students of
prohibited conduct. Schools should also
ensure that the designated consequences are
consistent with substantive due process considerations.
Basically, the rule and the punishment
must be reasonable.
Clodhoppers!
Because no discussion of pills is complete without German people dancing around in strange costumes…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRYBtOo7QAM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]
Buy a large bottle of aspirin, then put one each in a small envelope.
Wait for a teacher’s meeting, then hand them out to the teachers/school staff/principle and request they open the envelopes.
And when they are in “possession” of the drug demand that they all be fired.
After all HOW the pill got in their “possession” is of no consequence…at least that’s what THEY are saying here.
Let’s see if they change their minds….
I always liked Grace’s Great Society recording better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YddV91xnUz4
The images are from Woodstock.
The Idiocracy is forming as we write.
“According to the section on pupil discipline in the school system’s 17-page “student rights and responsibilities handbook” for 2009-2010, students can be disciplined for possessing, handling, using, transmitting or being under the influence of any controlled substance, prescription drug, alcohol, inhalant or other contraband. Offenses can be punished by a range of discipline, from a verbal warning up to suspension and expulsion.”
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100226/NEWS02/2260358/Greater-Clark-student-suspended-after-being-handed-pill
I guess “handling” covers the temporary possession.
“School” -(modern definition) A place where thinking is prohibited.