Bossier School Board upholds Advil expulsion
from The Shreveport Times

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.

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.

Zero-Tolerance is the most irrational policy to come down the pike, ever! Am I wrong? Not since the suspension of an eight year old for taking a plastic knife out of a cafeteria, have I seen anything that approaches this level of absurdity. Was she drinking at school? Did she have a weapon? Did she sell heroin to children? No! She had FUCKEN ADVIL!

Christ, what's next suspension for gum chewing? Capital punishment for speaking out of order? What do you do if you find a student who is doing something more severe? Say, smoking a joint? The truth is that zero-tolerance is unrealistic. Let me tell you something I learned during air traffic control training. The first time that a controller is caught doing drugs, illegal drugs, they receive a reprimand, drug counseling, and are then tested randomly for quite some time. These people, who hold in their hands the lives of thousands of people on a daily basis, get off easier than a teenager whose biggest responsibility is getting her homework turned in on time.

Zero-tolerance is the epitome of the term "Criminally Absurd."

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But another school official said earlier Thursday that having medication on campus doesn't automatically lead to a one-year expulsion. "After an investigation and a hearing then, if necessary, punishment is administered. It could be no punishment," said Betty McCauley, Bossier schools student services director.

Disciplinary action can range from in-school suspension to placement at the system's alternative school or expulsion from the system. From Aug. 11 through Wednesday, 18 students were sent to the system's alternative school because of possessing "pills," according to a report system officials compiled. However, Kruithof said he didn't know if the category covered nonprescription, prescription and illegal drugs or only nonprescription drugs.

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.

McCauley declined comment after the hearing, referring questions to Kruithof. So did District 11 board member Gary Dowden, who heads the administrative committee.


Kruithof didn't respond directly to questions about McCauley's statements but emphasized that state law requires a one-year expulsion.

Herpin considers Stiles an "average student" in both grades and behavior but said Stiles never got in serious enough trouble to warrant an expulsion. Kruithof said Stiles had other disciplinary incidents in the past but said he didn't know if they resulted in suspensions.

The search of Stiles' purse that turned up the medication came after a tip from a teacher about a student smoking at school. Herpin said her daughter was part of a group that was searched in response to the tip.

Kruithof said a teacher identifed Stiles as the student smoking a cigarette and that Stiles ran into a restroom, where a teacher searched only her purse.

No cigarettes or lighters were found. Stiles was not disciplined for tobacco-related violations.

Students caught smoking usually are suspended.

posted by awiggins | 04:53 PM