Boy, 11, Suspended for Year Over a Leaf

[Jazzy]

The details of the story are hazy, but what's certain is this: An 11-year-old was suspended from school in Virginia after school officials in late September found what they believed was a marijuana leaf in his backpack, along with a lighter. (A suit filed in the case alleges the assistant principal found "crumpled leaves.") The boy, identified only as RMB, was suspended for 364 days for alleged "possession of marijuana," and he faced charges in juvenile court. Turns out, however, that three tests found the leaf wasn't pot at all, and the juvenile charges were dropped, the Roanoke Times reports. But things with the school weren't so simple: Only today, six months after the case began, has RMB been able to return to class at a different school, and he remains on probation. That time away has taken a serious toll.

The son of Bruce and Linda Bays of Bedford County, both teachers, used to be an easygoing, upbeat child. Now he gets panic attacks, suffers from depression, and fears authority figures. After a disciplinary hearing, his mother tells the Times, "he just broke down and said his life was over. He would never be able to get into college; he would never be able to get a job." He's being treated by a psychiatrist, and his parents have launched a federal lawsuit against Bedford County Schools and the county sheriff's office. But the suit could face a hurdle when it comes to school drug policy: It also bans "imitation controlled substances," defined as a "pill, capsule, tablet, or other item which is not a controlled substance." In the meantime, it remains unclear how the leaf got in RMB's bag. The Inquisitr points to concerns about "zero tolerance" school policies, noting that this month, a 6-year-old was suspended for shaping his hand like a gun—and it wasn't the first such suspension.

Source

Thoughts?

 

[Webster]

This is yet another reason to get rid of zero tolerance policies; they treat every incident, no matter the nature, as if its' a capital crime and they also tie the hands of administrators who are frankly too cowardly to decide cases on their own....

 

[Jazzy]

While not discounting the over-reaction of a year's suspension for having a lighter and leaves in your backpack whether drugs or not, this story comes off fishy. If this kid is stressing to the point of needing therapy about not getting into college or getting a job at 11, there's something wrong at home. And if that same kid is feeling that kind of pressure at home, then how in the world did he get a lighter & why would he ever think it was OK to take on school property? His parents should know the policies in their district. As parents, they should be asking pertinent questions like why their kid had a lighter and leaves in his bag at school & why he was either caught or reported to have drugs out of the blue. The story says itself that details are hazy...Yeah...Like has he been reported before? Did he tell some kids that he had drugs? Was he reported for the lighter & then caught with the stupid leaves? Did some older kid screw him over, selling him fake pot & he got caught with it? Sounds like it could really just be a kid trying to be too cool & he got busted. I would definitely fight that long of a suspension if it was my kid, but I would certainly understand him getting suspended.

 

[DrLeftover]

"Let's see..... 9 Across, 'good non-parochial alternative to the asinine nightmare of the state run schools' has.... ahhh, thirteen letters, begins with an 'H', ninth letter is an 'O'...."