What would you do if this were your child?

[Horse with no Name]

I just heard about this...but curious what you would do? My recommendation to this parent was to call the ACLU.

A boy takes a welding class. He returns to the main campus after welding, his teacher smells him and says he smells like marijuana smoke.
He is targeted and called to the office where he is searched.
They find nothing.
The principal tells the boy that "we know who you run around with and we are going to catch you".
Now, this boy works, goes to school, and spends a great deal of time with his girlfriend, who is a nice kid and doesn't do drugs. He doesn't have any guys that he runs around with.
What do you think?

[JuniperLea]

1. Yep, ACLU

That is harassment for no good reason and it should be called on the table at every occurrence! Bastids.

[MrSlayer]

2. I would say that he has nothing to worry about.

If he doesn't get high they are never going to catch him doing it and if he doesn't run with a wild crew then their words are meaningless. I would just go about my business. I see no reason to call in anyone for anything, there's nothing there.

[Horse with no Name]

4. You don't think that a teacher, a principal, and an in-school police

officer telling a kid that he is going to be under a microscope and accusing him of something he didn't do isn't harrassment?
Hmmm...

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Just telling him that isn't harrassment

(I don't think). I think they would actually have to DO something, like punish him, for the harrassment charge to stick.

[MrSlayer]

9. No, I'd say it's fairly common.

Shit like this used to happen to me all the time when I was a kid. If he isn't really doing anything I wouldn't worry about it, they have no grounds to bust him. I'd say it was harrassment if they keep on doing it but right now I'd say calling in the authorities and making a big stink over one incident is an overreaction.

Although weed and welding smoke are not similar at all, did he explain that he has a welding class and that's why the smokey smell is on him?

[Horse with no Name]

11. He feels like he was individually targeted

and that it was pre-planned.

[MrSlayer]

Has he had run-ins with any of these office people before?

Is there someone in there with whom he has disagreed with or rubbed the wrong way? It doesn't make sense to go after him for no reason at all.

[Horse with no Name]

16. Exactly.

It doesn't make sense at all.
He hasn't been in trouble at all.

[bammertheblue]

18. That used to happen to me....

every day in high school. I had teachers and administrators calling my mother and saying "Your daughter is friends with a very troubled girl". One time I got in trouble when SHE was caught smoking.
High school is bullshit.
I'd tell the kid to watch his back, be careful, and WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN if people are harassing him without cause. There's always the chance that if it gets worse, you can use his notes to take some action.

[bonito]

3. Welding smoke is a sort of sweet smell

And not a common one, but those nuts with the marijuana phobia are definitely a concern.

[newswolf56]

5. Once harassment of this sort begins, protection of the victim demands...

that it be documented. Complaining to the ACLU is thus one way to achieve the necessary protective documentation. If I were the parent, I would write letters to the school officials with copies to the local ACLU.

Probably what the school officials smelled was welder's flux, some of which emits an odor that -- or so I am told -- is very much like burning marijuana. Thus another good resource for the parent would be to contact the local welders' unions (pipefitters, ironworkers, millwrights, boliermakers etc.) to learn if others have been victimized by similar harassment in the workplace. (It seems to me this has happened, though I don't remember the details.)

The ultimate issue here is of course class bigotry: another example of the arrogant (and incipiently fascist) bourgeois contempt for workers and workers' children.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. How stupid!

But if he wasn't suspended, I don't know what grounds he has for a lawsuit.

If he was publically reprimanded, he could go after the school for a privacy violation.

But, as dumb as this school was, I don't see a lawsuit here. But hey, I am not a lawyer so what do I know?

I do think his parent needs to raise a stink about this though. I know I would.

[Horse with no Name]

10. The teacher said this in front of the entire class

He wants an apology.
They refuse to give one.
Right now, they are attempting to push through a drug testing policy in the school. The policy stinks to high heaven--it only includes certain groups of kids instead of the entire student body.
I think they are looking for a kid to prove why they need one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. That's public reprimand

Sounds like a privacy law violation.

FERPA
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

I don't see anything here that applies but I did a quick search. I DO know that we have been advised that public reprimands are to be avoided as they may violate FERPA.

[Arkana]

8. Absolutely call the ACLU.

I had a prick for a principal back in HS who did shit like this, and got away with it because the superintendent loved him. That's harassment, pure and simple.

[jbm]

12. lemmee tell you what happened to my son last week...

My son walked into the school last week with three other kids, and some unknown administrator detected a marijuana smell. All three kids were sent to the nurses office where they had their blood pressure and pulse rate taken. My sons blood pressure was supposedly 176/80, and his heart rate was high, and so they sent him to the principals office. This was 8:00 AM. The principal called my cell phone, and by 8:20 I was in his office. My son did not look the least bit high, and didn't smell of marijuana, but the principal informed me that he was suspended for 6 days.

Because the school is a neo-con paradise, I had looked up the number for the ACLU before I went into the office (the science teacher teaches creationism, the history teacher teaches anti-liberalism, and the math teacher fasted for fourty days because he had promised God he would fast in exchange for a Bush victory). I TRIED to call the ACLU from the principals office, but the number I had brought with me was apparently not valid. I argued with the principal that they had no crime and no evidence, but he insisted that the fact that my sons blood pressure was high was proof. He also said I could get my son drug tested and if it was negative they would drop the suspension. My son is a great kid. He does whatever I ask him to do. He works parttime and his boss loves him. In the summer he mows the lawn of our elderly neighbor for free. He's always gotten good grades for teachers he respects, and started making the honor role when he realized it would make his car insurance cheaper. There is no part of me that thinks he has a drug 'problem', however, I don't doubt he has smoked marijuana.

Since I figured he may have done it, I didn't want to get him drug tested, but I was totally pissed at a policy that assumed guilt without any cause to speak of. I went to a nurse and asked if the blood pressure thing was a legit indicator of marijuana use, and she said there was no way that was a reliable indicator, plus, 176 was so high she doubted it was an accurate reading. I wnet to the superintendents office. The superintendent refused to see me, but the asst superintendent and I debated back and forth for awhile..but I didn't gain any ground. I went to the newspaper, and I think they got that it was a rights issue, but the fact that my son was probably guilty didn't give them a solid angle for a story.

Sooo....what I'm going to do is attend every school board meeting that is open to the public from now until I find a way to change the system. Good luck to your friends son..

[Horse with no Name]

14. I would like to know why

They didn't seek medical attention for your son when his heart rate and blood pressure were elevated?
Is your son overweight?
Is there a family history of coronary artery disease or hypertension? Is he on asthma medications or any other type of medication?
Did they check with his family physician to find out what his baseline blood pressure was?
Did they take into account that stress increases both your blood pressure AND your pulse?
Did they re-take 10 minutes after the initial reading to verify the accuracy of the result? That is standard of practice in the hospital.
What methodology did they use?
If they used a machine, when was the last calibration?
There are a myriad of arguments that can prove this was entirely situational as opposed to physiological.

[bammertheblue]

19. Just the fact

that he was probably slightly freaking out for being in trouble for no reason probably raised his blood pressure.
There's no offense intended and I don't mean to imply he did anything wrong. I just know that when I was in high school and I was in trouble for something I didn't do, I always freaked out because I was sure they knew about something I really DID do.

PS. Your son is lucky to have someone like you, who trusts him and thinks he's a good kid, as a parent.

[jbm]

22. thanks bammer..:)

and I agree with you. I'm thinking no matter if he was innocent or guilty, just getting called out is stressful.

[jbm]

20. I agree ..

in fact, I asked the asst superintendent how come the schools reaction to an incredibly high blood pressure was to send him to the principals office, instead of to take steps to treat it as a medical issue. The reason I spoke to a nurse (I talked to his docs nurse, not the school nurse) was to see if I should be alarmed about the blood pressure being so high, but she said you can't put to much emphasis on a single reading, and normally his blood pressure is low. (It sounds like that's what you're saying also..thanks for yur post)

[jbnow]

21. When my son was in 8th grade

as part of the art club he was walking into town after school along with the teacher and other members. They were going to decorate some windows in town for Christmas.
Some of the boys passed around some chewing tobacco. The teacher asked what it was and told them to throw it out. They did.

The next day I got a call informing me they were kicked out of school for 10 days, the same as if they had cocaine.
I made many calls, never thought of ACLU, don't know how they relate. I found out chewing tobacco was not illegal here (though my son wasn't allowed to use it though I note it was his). So for a not illegal drug not on school grounds they were out 10 days. I don't think so,

I asked for an appeal and they said it would be scheduled within 2 weeks but they were out in the meantime. I said no way, they were back in school until it was scheduled. They disagreed.

When I reached someone at the school board they listened and tried to answer seriously but they burst into laughter and said it was the dumbest thing they ever heard of and the kids weren't suspended anymore. I wonder if it would help if you called or visited the school board rather then waiting for a meeting.

The middle school administration was furious. They told me they saw where my son got his trouble making from. They said none of the other parents had complained but now all the kids had to come back, What did I think of that?
I thought it was good they all came back. You had a bunch of good kids willing to do volunteer work for the community, who were doing what they saw their baseball idols do and not hiding it and they were treated like criminals. If they want their punishment to be effective do what I planned to do, make them write a report on the long term effects of chewing tobacco. And so on...

They told my son that the way he was going and with a mom who covered for him he'd end up in training school. I went back in to complain again.

Yes, I am a troublemaker if that's what they want to call it. I call it an advocate.

I didn't know kids could be punished for a smell now and btw most sites say the effects of marijuana on blood pressure are complex. It can cause a moderate increase, though chronic use causes a decrease. It is also posture related, that is often an increase when laying down but a decrease when standing up.

But I would say get his blood pressure checked out, just in case that was an accurate reading. It can happen in teens. (Pardon me, I think I am everyones mother)

Good luck in your fight.

[jbm]

24. thank you for your post.

You did a good thing in standing up for those kids. It's reassuring to know that others have fought the same type of system I am in, and won. Going to the school board without waiting for a meeting is an excellent idea, and I'm going to do it!

I also appreciate your concern about his blood pressure, and I was concerned as well so I spoke with his doctors nurse. She checked his records, and said that I could bring him in to the office, but she doubted that it was an accurate reading. Her reaction was similiar to your school boards reaction..she laughed and asked if they were idiots.

[Selatius]

15. Keep an eye out, but no action...yet

This could be a one-time incident, or it could be a pattern of harrassment that needs to be addressed. If nothing further happens, drop it, but the second I hear something new happening, I'm going to call the ACLU.

[NNN0LHI]

17. Well if the high school kid you are describing were me and I just got...

...out of welding class and I was walking back to the main campus I probably would have been smoking a doobie.

Don

[AnotherMother4Peace]

23. Yes, but did he have his hand stuck in his mouth - that's the true sign.

(reference made to a previous DU thread)

[triguy46]

25. Here's the other side of the coin....

Stillwater (OK) High School had 2 bomb threats this week, but the administration did not see fit to call any agency, no cops, no fire, no FBI. They didn't evacuate. Just chose to ignore it. Seems that this would be the other, equally scary, end of the distribution curve.

[Syncronaut Seven]

26. Get a court injunction, cram it down their fucking throats

I wouldn't have left without cops in attendance and a judge on the phone. They can suspend him later, when they've proven their case.