STUDENT RETURNS TO SCHOOL

John Wiley was back in school Tuesday, two weeks after the Mannford Middle
School student was suspended for turning in a bag of marijuana to school
officials. But the 14yearold student isn't sure how long he will stay in
the school system.

His mother, Lenora, said the boy's trust in school officials has been
shattered, and she worries about how other children will treat her son.

"I think one of his problems was who was he going to turn to in case
something happened, if any of the other kids were heckling him," she said
Tuesday afternoon.

"We'll finish this semester. We still need to talk, and we're still working
with an attorney."

The school decided to let John back into school after "new evidence" came
to light.

Officials said some other middle schoolers involved in the incident had
changed their stories.

Mannford Middle School Principal Molly Gregory said the investigation into
the incident was continuing and that some of the other students involved
had begun to paint a different picture of what happened that morning.

John contends that he was offered marijuana by some other students the
morning of Dec. 2.

He said he accepted it so that he could turn it in, and when he did so, he
was suspended for possession of an illegal substance.

His appeal of the suspension to the Mannford School Board was denied.