EXPELLED SENIOR CAN GRADUATE

The Girl Was Removed From School In November, After Marijuana Was Found In
Her Pocketbook.

JOHNSTON -- A high school senior who was barred from graduation has been
given a second chance.

The state education commissioner last week overturned the School
Committee's decision to bar the student, who was expelled in November for
having marijuana at school, from participating in commencement next month.

In the May 6 ruling, Paul Pontarelli, a hearing officer appointed by the
commissioner, said that although it wasn't unreasonable to give the girl a
substantial punishment, the substance-abuse policy in the student handbook
didn't give school officials enough latitude to make an appropriate decision.

"Under this policy, as soon as school officials determine that an offense
warrants a suspension of more than ten days, the suspension must carry to
the end of the school year," Pontarelli wrote. "There is no room under the
policy whether some intermediate punishment is appropriate."

The intermediate punishment, in his mind, is to allow the girl to take part
in graduation as long she completes all the requirements through the
school's approved tutoring program, he said.

Pontarelli agreed with the committee's decision to expel the student and
bar her from the prom, the senior banquet and the senior send-off.

"I thought it was a decent outcome," said Michael Robinson, the attorney
representing the school board. "I think the commissioner was a little
critical of Johnston's [substance abuse] policy. The way the policy reads,
there is not a lot of discretion. But I think the more important issue is
that he validated the School Committee's concerns that no student should
have any drugs in the school."

Jon Anderson, the lawyer for the student, couldn't be reached for comment.

The student's troubles started in October, a few days before Halloween.

According to documents from the state Board of Education, the girl arrived
late to school. She had to sign in at the central office, where an
assistant principal was in the middle of investigating a suspected drug
deal in school.

According to the documents, the student said that as she signed in, a
friend approached and told her, "I'm in big trouble." She said the friend
asked her to hold something for him, then put it in her lunch bag and said
he would get it back from her later.

According to the student, she left the office, walked to her locker and
opened her lunch bag. She saw a plastic bag containing a large amount of
marijuana.

She panicked, tucked the bag into her pocketbook and went to class,
according to the ruling from the education board.

The assistant principal who had been investigating the suspected drug deal
learned that the girl may have taken the marijuana from the central office,
the ruling said.

The assistant principal and the school resource officer pulled her out of
class on the second floor, explained what they were looking for and walked
downstairs to her locker.

They looked in the lunch bag and the school resource office "took all the
items out of the lunch bag and found a piece of marijuana."

According to the ruling, when asked again about the drugs, the girl said
the rest of the marijuana was in her pocketbook. She was taken to the
police station and charged with possession of marijuana, and her case was
sent to the juvenile hearing board.

The ruling said that school administrators were aware that the girl had
never been suspended, was a good student and had not brought the marijuana
into the high school.

Her arrest came after administrators had decided over the summer to take a
zero-tolerance stance on drug- and alcohol-related issues.

Principal Elizabeth Mantelli relied on the substance abuse policy from the
student handbook. It says students caught with alcohol or illegal
substances will be suspended for 10 days and that the principal will
determine whether to recommend expulsion to the superintendent.

Mantelli recommended expulsion because of the "serious nature of the
offense ... and the need to deter future incidents," the state ruling reads.

Schools Supt. Margaret Iacovelli agreed, and passed her recommendation to
the School Committee. Iacovelli also recommended that the committee provide
the girl with home tutoring, limit her reported number of absences to 10
days and remove a course withdrawal from her transcript, so that she could
receive her diploma.

On Nov. 12, the School Committee followed Iacovelli's advice. The two other
students involved in the drug investigation, both freshmen, were also
expelled, according to the ruling.

The decision meant the senior couldn't participate in the prom, the senior
banquet, the senior send-off and graduation ceremonies.

In February, the committee's decision was appealed to Commissioner of
Education Peter McWalters. (In the meantime, the committee reconsidered the
issue, but a tie vote left the result unchanged.)