Posted on 09/29/2004 5:28:16 AM PDT by closet freeper
A Rockdale County father is fuming over his daughter’s in-school suspension. He said the teen’s only crime was simply smelling like smoke. Salem High School said it was standing by its strict no-smoking policy.
Carlton Bates said his 17-year-old daughter, Amanda, went to the office at Salem and told an assistant principal she had an upset stomach.
The administrator there “grabbed her shirt, smelled it, started smelling her hair and said, ‘You’ve been smoking,’ and my daughter replied, ‘I haven’t been smoking, I don’t smoke,’” Bates said.
“She was not caught smoking, she was accused of smelling like smoke and put on five days’ suspension for that reason,” he added.
Salem’s principal Robert Cresswell stood by the school’s policy.
“Basically the girl smelled very strongly of smoke and we handled it as consistently and fair as we normally handle things,” he said.
Cresswell said the rules were no smoking or possession of smoking paraphernalia on campus. Smelling like smoke is not a violation but “we assume if you smell strongly of smoke, you’ve been smoking,” he said.
The girl’s father said he does not condone kids’ smoking, but he believes Amanda may have just been around friends who smoked off campus before school.
“She’s never been in trouble with that school system. We’ve talked to her teachers, they love the kid. She’s been a good daughter to us and I believe her,” Bates said. “If she says she’s not smoking, she’s not smoking.”
Bates has written the Rockdale County School Board asking for an apology and his daughter’s record to be cleared.
Amanda’s suspension is effective immediately. Principal Cresswell said the in-school suspension will not be a permanent entry on Amanda’s school transcripts.
"Five days for smelling like smoke is absolutely insane.
I only got 3 days for actually smoking in the parking lot. What is the world coming to?"
The punishment does seem too harsh. Also, do schools have any business making this type of rule? I mean, if they want to ban smoking or the possession of tobacco products on school grounds that may be within their power, but should they have any right to say anything about what a student might do off school property? Of course it's likely that it's illegal for these (presumably) minors to buy cigarettes, but isn't that a matter for their parents or even the cops to deal with?
When I was in high school the students smoked on the steps at one of the back entrances to the school. In junior high we were required to go off school property to smoke, which in theory we weren't supposed to do. The legal age for buying smokes at that time was 16.
Now I understand why these girls feel the ~whole~ world will cater to them.
My daughter is only 2, so maybe my opinion will change, but when she is 17 and in High School, I will not consider her smoking to be an acceptable choice. If she was smoking or not would be the only thing that matter to me, my primary concern is her well-being and not falling on my sword over the school's procedures. If she has friends who smoke or drink its not the end of the world, but I would certainly prefer she didn't at that age. Last I checked you had to be 18-21 to smoke (depending on the state), so her "friends" were doing something wrong, even if you don't agree with the law and she got in trouble because of it. She should take her beef up with them.
so what...she was not found to be smoking on school grounds... or to have any smokes in her possession... You're a twit!
>>It is if it is being done by a minor and can be proven. In this case, it cannot be.<<
In many states, it is not a crime for a minor to smoke, only to purchase cigarettes.
A five day suspension for smelling of smoke? Where is the crime?
Cigarettes will still be legal, it will be a crime for smoking while driving. Just like not wearing a seat belt, car seats for kids, annual safety inspections, proof of insurance, registration, drivers license, fingerprints, SSN.
JUST TO DRIVE !!
Apparently they think they can.
Times have changed. It seems nowadays kids can't skateboard or hang out at the mall without having the cops called on them.
Glad I grew up when I did, for I surely would be in jail for being a kid with a motorcycle, guns, fishing pole, ax, black powder, knife and all that other stuff a teenage boy needs to grow up properly.
And these are the people in charge of "educating" children.
Maybe in your state. Not in mine.
It's illegal for a minor to BUY cigarettes, not to smoke them.
Not my daughter. No siree.
"How do they know she didn't smoke before she arrived on campus. The school can't control behavior outside of school."
You might not think so, but I've seen plenty of people here on this forum defending the right of schools to to drug testing for illegal substances, alcohol, and tobacco. In that case they were basing the right of the students to participate in extracurricular activities (sport, clubs, and so on) on that testing. But it's only a small step from there to mandatory testing for all students with suspensions and expulsions for transgressors, which I'll bet the same people who defended the above would have supported.
Why don't you just avoid the issue by not handing her over to the government when she turns five? Public schools are dangerous and detrimental to character building.
"Now I understand why these girls feel the ~whole~ world will cater to them."
So you're saying you'd be ok with some administrator grabbing your daughter's shirt? Do you even HAVE a daughter?
If so - well, you raise your children any way you want. My daughters will NOT grow up accepting the notion that ANYONE has the right to grab and sniff any part of their person!
I don't give a damn if anyone "caters" to my girls. Their dad, however, will stand up when their rights and personal space are being violated. PERIOD.
And the same people will moan when they bring in the tobacco sniffing dogs. Personally, I get quite a kick out of all this.
My eldest daughter went to H.S. each day smelling like smoke...Generally, I smoked a cigar while driving her in the AM....Even with the window open, some of the "scent" (not smell, I smoke good cigars) permeated her hair and clothes....
Enough so that kids at her school would come up and ask her for cigs or a light.....LOL
Smoking NAZI's can kiss my A$$....
NeverGore :^)
You must be 18 (19 in 2 or 3 states) to purchase cigarettes. In most states it is not illegal for those under 18 to smoke, only to buy them.
>>Last I checked you had to be 18-21 to smoke (depending on the state)<<
Reference??? Possession please, not purchase.
Oh brother. No, I don't have a daughter, but I've been one. You are acting as if they accosted her when all they did was grab her shirt and smell it. I don't understand parents who send their kids to school and then expect the school to cater to the child and enforce ~no~ discipline on their little angel.
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