Motrin Moment

School Sets Bad Example With Harsh Punishment

Sometimes, zero tolerance makes zero sense.

A case in point is the suspension handed down recently by Jefferson
County school officials to a 15-year-old girl who took a Motrin pill
at school to relieve menstrual cramps. The Clay-Chalkville High School
sophomore was suspended and assigned to an alternative school for one
month for an offense that the student code of conduct classifies as a
major drug offense.

Major drug offense? For taking Motrin, a common over-the-counter drug
for menstrual pain?

First, there is no question that what student Ysatis Jones did was
wrong. It is a violation of county school policy for any student to
possess prescription drugs or any over-the-counter medicine without
written approval. Ysatis should have known that; it's in the student
handbook. She should have asked to go to the school office for
medicine to ease her pain.

Schools have good reason to keep a handle on all kinds of drug use on
campus. Even over-the-counter medicines can be abused.

But a student's punishment ought to fit the crime. In Ysatis' case,
one can't help but conclude the punishment was too harsh.

She certainly didn't help her cause any by accusing the teacher who
reported her of racism. The teacher was just doing her job. Besides,
the teacher didn't determine her punishment; that was decided by
administrators.

And, frankly, they blew it.

Too often, it seems, we hear of students suspended or expelled for
what seems like minor infractions because school policymakers decided
to take a stand against serious offenses and drew a line students
shouldn't cross. Sometimes, though, aspirin can be lumped in the same
category as Oxycontin, or a student who lets an asthmatic classmate
use her inhaler is treated as if she was dealing drugs.

Rigid rules that don't allow for reasonable exceptions can do more
harm than good.

That is not to say Ysatis didn't deserve punishment for violating the
school system policy on medicines. She does. But banishment to
alternative school with students who have committed more egregious
acts is a bit much.

It's a shame that someone in the principal's office at Clay-Chalkville
or in the school board office didn't see that.