CAFFEINE PILLS TAKEN AT SCHOOL

COBLESKILL - Between 10 and 15 seventh-grade students were sent home from
Cobleskill-Richmondville's Golding Middle School Tuesday after they took
caffeine pills.

Most of the students were picked up by their parents, but an ambulance was
called toward the end of the day for a student experiencing chest pain and
shortness of breath. Some parents also ended up taking their children to
the emergency room at Bassett Hospital of Schoharie County after picking
them up from school, said Bruce Loveys, the school's dean of students.

School officials found out about the students taking the drug just before
noon, when a few students who had not taken the pills came forward and said
they were concerned about their friends, Loveys said.

He said that once he and Principal David Palmer found out that a large
group of students shared the pills, the school called Bassett's emergency
room to find out what to do. Upon the hospital's recommendation, the school
nurse monitored the heart rates and blood pressures of students until they
were picked up by their parents. Loveys said it is possible that students
also had taken the pills on Monday.

Although administrators were fairly certain the students had ingested
caffeine pills, many of those who took the pills did not know what they
were.

"That was scary," Loveys said.

He said that although caffeine is not a controlled substance, the students
who took it still were in violation of the school's disciplinary code.
Students can bring in aspirin or antibiotics for their own use, but they
are prohibited from sharing drugs with others.

Letters telling parents about the incident were sent home Tuesday. In the
letter, administrators also asked parents to speak to their children about
the dangers of taking pills without the guidance of an adult.

Cobleskill village police were brought in to investigate the incident early
in the afternoon. Officer John Sullivan said that the students shared one
bottle of Eckerd's Extra Strength Alertness Tablets, which contain 200
milligrams of caffeine each. He said the students had taken about 20 of the
40 pills in the bottle.

Because the drugs are sold over the counter, the students committed no
crime, Sullivan said.