A PAINFUL SUSPENSION

Suspending A Student For Using Ibuprofen Was A Foolish Decision

Ysatis Jones is a good student, all A's and B's. She's never been a
discipline problem, according to her records. Jones, who is black, doesn't
think at least one white teacher at Clay-Chalkville High School in the
Jefferson County town of Pinson treats minority students fairly, but it
hasn't been a major issue for her.

But Jones, 15, won't be going to classes at Clay-Chalkville for the next
month. She's been suspended. And she has been told she must attend
alternative school, where the kids with discipline issues are sent -
although her mother says that's not going to happen.

What did Jones do that was so bad she was given this punishment?

On Dec. 3, Jones had menstrual cramps. She was embarrassed to mention it to
her male driver's education teacher, who might have sent to her to the main
office for medicine. Instead, right after that class, because she was
feeling so badly, she went to a school water fountain and took an ibuprofen
pill. (Ibuprofen is a widely available, over-the-counter pain medication.)

And was spotted by a teacher - the teacher Jones says is prejudiced.

The school has a draconian no-drugs policy. It bans all drugs. No
differentiation is made between ibuprofen and crack cocaine as far as
mandatory suspension is concerned.

So Jones has now become the center of a bitter fight between her mother,
who thinks the punishment was excessive and that at least part of Jones'
"guilt" is being black, and the school, whose administration denies the
teacher is prejudiced and defends the tough anti-drug regulations.

Will this wind up in the courts? Perhaps. If it does, it will cost the
school system money at a time when state school systems can't afford extra
expenses.

What would have been wrong with the principal taking young Jones aside,
again explaining the drug policy and saying that if she has cramps in the
future to please, please come to the office for help?

We all know what's wrong with that. The education bureaucracy is most
comfortable goose-stepping to policy rather than using common sense; the
threat of litigation hangs over every decision. And educators and parents
are so overly concerned with the overhyped drug menace that they are ready
to treat children as potential criminals without a scintilla of evidence.

Ysatis Jones needed ibuprofen for a painful cramp. The public, reading of
this ludicrous suspension, may need to take some to relieve the pain of
watching the child be victimized by a foolish policy.

And before it's over, the Jefferson County school board will probably need
some medication for the headache this travesty is sure to cause. Or it can
opt for preventive medicine, change the policy and retroactively put Jones
back in class where she belongs.