PUPILS SUSPENDED OVER DRUGS

ELEVEN Shepparton primary students who experimented with marijuana at the
back of a school building have been suspended.

While only three of the children from the Wilmot Rd Primary School smoked
the drug, eight onlookers were also suspended.

The ringleader, an 11-year-old boy, was suspended for four weeks.

Shepparton Supt Dannye Moloney said the boy brought the small amount of
marijuana to the school at the end of last term.

He said the boy first bragged to school mates before he and several grade
five and six pupils went behind a shed to experiment with the drug.

A teacher found the children and called police, who informally cautioned
the boy. No charges were laid.

"We were concerned whether it was introduced to the boy by a criminal
element trying to infiltrate schools," Supt Moloney said.

He said police had since run an extensive education campaign in the school
about the dangers of drugs.

A parent of a boy suspended said it was unfair the children who had the
sense not to smoke the drug were punished.

But the Education Department supported the principal's decision.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan