APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS PUNISHMENT OF STUDENT FOR DRUGS

SALEM -- The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Phoenix High
School officials had the right to strip the student body president of his
title after he was caught with marijuana.

The case had been closely watched because a key issue was how much leeway
administrators have to punish students.

Keanon Ferguson was caught last spring with a small amount of marijuana and
a glass pipe in his pocket, and he had drug paraphernalia in his car,
authorities said.

Administrators stripped him of his student president title, and his father
sued the school district in September.

Jackson County Judge Phil Arnold reinstated Ferguson, ruling that
administrators had no authority to punish the teen beyond the standard
five-day suspension.

On Wednesday, the court unanimously agreed that a student should not be
permitted to serve as the highest officer in the school after arriving on
school property with an illegal drug.

The Associated Press