Zero Tolerance Regulations Claim Another Victim
From the Shreveport Times:
According to the story, Ms. Herpin was caught by a teacher who thought she was smoking in the hallway. According to the teacher, the girl had ran into the restroom to avoid being caught. The teacher searched Herpin's purse for evidence of tobacco, and found nothing but a bottle of Advil. Apparently, this bottle was enough for the school administration to expel her as the state guidelines include non-prescription drugs in their zero-tolerance policy.
This just doesn't make any sense. Anybody with common sense knows that possession of Advil shouldn't be something you get expelled for. If the school wanted to investigate the pills to be certain that they were Advil I think they'd be well within their rights, but once the pills were shown to be nothing more than non-prescription medication the matter should have been dropped. Instead this young girl has to live with the embarrassment of being expelled because of a bureaucrat's refusal to use his common sense.
How can we expect high school kids to grow up and accept responsibilities if we won't even trust them with a bottle of Advil?
A student expelled from Parkway High for a year for having Advil, an over-the-counter pain reliever, will not be allowed to return to the school.
Kelly Herpin and daughter Amanda Stiles, a sophomore, appealed the one-year expulsion to a Bossier Parish School Board committee Thursday night, spending about 10 minutes with the board's administrative committee behind closed doors.
The committee and the full board voted unanimously to uphold an administrative decision that Stiles be expelled to the alternative school...
Superintendent Ken Kruithof said after the board meeting that the school system is following a state law that requires a one-year expulsion and being consistent in the system's "zero-tolerance" policy...
State guidelines define medication as "all prescription and nonprescription drugs," McCauley said Thursday afternoon. McCauley hears discipline appeals from parents dissatisfied with discipline imposed by school principals.
According to the story, Ms. Herpin was caught by a teacher who thought she was smoking in the hallway. According to the teacher, the girl had ran into the restroom to avoid being caught. The teacher searched Herpin's purse for evidence of tobacco, and found nothing but a bottle of Advil. Apparently, this bottle was enough for the school administration to expel her as the state guidelines include non-prescription drugs in their zero-tolerance policy.
This just doesn't make any sense. Anybody with common sense knows that possession of Advil shouldn't be something you get expelled for. If the school wanted to investigate the pills to be certain that they were Advil I think they'd be well within their rights, but once the pills were shown to be nothing more than non-prescription medication the matter should have been dropped. Instead this young girl has to live with the embarrassment of being expelled because of a bureaucrat's refusal to use his common sense.
How can we expect high school kids to grow up and accept responsibilities if we won't even trust them with a bottle of Advil?
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