CVMS STUDENTS DISCIPLINED FOR PRO-MARIJUANA CAMPAIGN

Douglas County School District officials are urging parents to talk to
their children about appropriate ways to express themselves at school
in the wake of a drug-related incident at Carson Valley Middle School.

"One thing parents can do is to have talks with their kids," said
Superintendent Lisa Noonan. "They are obviously entitled to their
opinions, but they have to express them in appropriate ways, so they
don't create a bigger disturbance for the school."

On Tuesday, CVMS Principal Robert Been said approximately a dozen
freshmen were disciplined, ranging from one-day in-school suspension
to five-day out-of-school suspension, for inappropriately expressing
opinions on marijuana use.

Been said the brief pro-pot campaign stemmed for an earlier incident
on Nov. 9 when three ninth-graders were suspended, and removed from
the premises by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, for using
marijuana adjacent to campus about 15 minutes before school.

Later that same day, Been said, a group of students posted pro-
marijuana signs on walls, ceilings, and around garbage cans and soda
machines. Been said one slogan was "Arresting kids is not part of
Tiger pride."

"A number of friends decided to be somewhat creative," he said.

Been pointed out that any kind of student sign needs to be approved by
staff before being displayed on campus.

"Essentially, the gist of it is that it was a disruption to the school
environment and counter to what we are trying to do in an educational
environment," Been said.

Noonan concurred with the course of action taken by school
administrators.

"The whole first amendment issue has certain restrictions when coming
through that front door," she said. "This is what I call a disruption
of the learning environment. We want an orderly environment."

Been said there was a similar infraction about two weeks ago,
involving one of the same students. Otherwise, he said, the type of
behavior is rare at CVMS.

"It was an isolated incident," he said.