Look, let's stop the lie that "zero tolerance" rules are meant to combat on-campus use of such damaging drugs as heroin and meth, okay? Let's all just be honest about the fact that what school administrators really want to accomplish with these rules is to punish all those pesky teenage girls and their stashes of legal, OTC pain medication.
No? You say that wasn't the intent? Then why do I keep reading stories like this?
Taking ibuprofen for cramps landed a Clay-Chalkville High sophomore with a suspension and a month's mandatory attendance at alternative school.
Ysatis Jones, 15, took a Motrin pill on Dec. 3 after requesting to be excused for the restroom. She said she was too embarrassed to ask her male drivers' education teacher if she could visit the main office to take medicine for menstrual pain.
A teacher saw her swallow the pill at a water fountain and reported her.
The Jefferson County school board prohibits students from possessing any prescription or over-the-counter medication without signed administrative permission. The student code of conduct classifies violations as a major drug offense.
You got that? Major drug offense. Ysatis is no different from the stoners who get high before school. The fact that she happens to be breaking no laws and had a legitimate need for legal medication is of no concern to the Jefferson County school board. They can make no distinction between Ysatis and the illegal drug users; they admit as much:
"The big concern we have is that it may be fine for one student to take over-the-counter medication, but what if he or she gives it to another student and they have an allergic reaction," [Clay-Chalkville Principal Randle] Cassady asked. "That is where the liability comes in with us."
Nez Calhoun, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County school system, said she understands the mother's concern...
"It is harsh. I will admit that," Calhoun said. "If we don't have consequences for aberrations of the rule, then we never will get a handle on drugs in the school."
So it's not enough to punish kids for using illegal drugs; the school must also make sure that students are punished for legal drugs, because, in some alternate universe, the punishment is supposed to fit not only the crime but also aberrations of the crime. Also in this alternate universe, punishing the kids who use OTC medication somehow stops the flow of illegal drugs onto campus.
My question is, if the punishment for using Motrin and using meth are the same, why expect a student to choose Motrin? Heck, if I knew back in high school that I'd get the same punishment for choosing Midol, muscle relaxants, or heroin for my severe cramps, I'd've been seriously tempted to go with whatever was most available and most effective at the time.
Ysatis's mom is refusing to send her child to the alternate school, and I don't blame her:
At the alternative school, her child would be physically searched each morning and placed with children who committed offenses such as battery, arson and possessing illegal drugs. Jones wants her daughter to avoid such an environment and maintain a positive attitude about school.
So, continuing on in this alternate universe, the way to deal with kids who use legal drugs in a responsible way is to treat them like inmates and isolate them in classrooms with students who are known to batter one another and abuse illegal drugs. Riiiiight.
The furor over the recent Advil expulsion might prompt that Louisiana school board to re-think its drug policy; perhaps the parents of Ysatis's classmates will understand that, unless they speak up, their child is next.
Posted by kswygert at December 17, 2003 04:28 PM