CANNABIS PUNISHMENT UNDER FIRE

James Hargest High School had inflicted a punishment more severe than the
police or judicial system could ever have done when it excluded a
14-year-old third form student last month, the boy's family claimed.

Margaret Irvine said her son, Scott, could be out of school for up to three
months until another school was found to take him.

Scott was excluded from James Hargest, in Invercargill, after an incident
involving cannabis away from the school grounds and outside school hours.

Ms Irvine said the school had followed an approach that stripped Scott of
his right to go to school and failed to offer him or his family any
counselling or support.

In an incident report, principal Paul O'Connor says a teacher approached a
group of boys standing on the corner of Ward and Layard Streets about
4.40pm on Tuesday, June 3.

"He found the boys in a close group at the karate centre with smoke rising
and a smell of marijuana." Scott was interviewed by a senior teacher at the
school three days later.

No adult support person was present despite Ms Irvine's request to be with
her son when he was questioned.

During the interview Scott admitted he had a rolled mini cigar with some
cannabis in it.

Mr O'Connor decided to suspend Scott on June 13 because his gross
misconduct was a dangerous example to other students.

Scott was not given any school work to do while he waited for the school
board meeting on June 19 which decided to exclude him from school.

Mrs Irvine said the punishment did not fit the crime and there were other
students using and dealing cannabis at the school.

"It's like they don't want to acknowledge the problem. They want to keep it
out of the school." Scott was supported at the disciplinary meeting by his
uncle, Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Hewett.

Mr Hewett said Scott would still be at school if the incident had been
handled through the justice system, and James Hargest would have been none
the wiser.

"Any interview would have been carried out with him having a support person
present. He would also have been given his Bill of Rights ... that he was
entitled to consult and instruct a solicitor and his right to silence."

While the school did not have to follow that procedure, it meant that its
penalty was more severe than any imposed by the police or judicial system.

As a 14-year-old, Scott would have been dealt with by Youth Aid and would
probably have been warned, he said. The school would not have been advised
because Scott's privacy would have been protected.

The school had operated as investigator, prosecutor and judge, he said.

No cannabis had been found so the only real evidence against Scott was his
own admission. "They're putting kids on the scrapheap when they shouldn't
be there."

But the board's decision could be challenged.

"There is the potential for a judicial review through the courts for any
decision that the school disciplinary board made, as everybody is entitled
to natural justice," Mr Hewett said.

Both he and Ms Irvine said they did not condone cannabis use but felt the
school's handling of the situation, and others like it, could have serious
consequences.

Ms Irvine: "It's not just about Scott but for the people before him and the
people after him."

James Hargest board disciplinery hearings committee chairman Rex Chapman
declined to comment yesterday.

Mr O'Connor and board chairman Murray Frost could not be reached for comment.