HONESTY WORST POLICY AT EDISON HIGH SCHOOL

My husband and I have always told our boys that if you tell the truth, you
won't be in nearly as much trouble as you will if you lie. As parents, we
try to instill a sense of honesty, integrity and character in our kids. The
school plays an important part by educating and disciplining our kids while
they are in their care. However, I do not believe they have a right to
discipline my children (or anyone else's) for inappropriate behavior that
occurs outside of school or a school-sponsored event. That is exactly what
happened in Edison High School. My son was rewarded for his honesty in
saying that he had tried marijuana (off school premises) by being suspended
from school for five days. When I would not allow the principal to question
him about other students, he extended his suspension to 10 days and vowed
to recommend expulsion.

I do not condone the use of illegal drugs; however, I also believe that if
a student admits to a school administrator that he has tried marijuana off
school premises that he should not be suspended from school. Of course, if
he has used or been under the influence while attending school, the schools
have a right and an obligation to take appropriate measures of discipline
and parental notification. This is not the case in the Edison school district.

For telling the truth, my son was denied any instruction by our schools for
one month! After that he was admitted into an alternate program which the
administrators purport is equal to the education he was getting in his
normal classes. Not! In my son's regular physics class, they did not watch
"Jurassic Park." In his accelerated trigonometry class, a teacher
instructed him; he wasn't handed a book and expected to learn on his own.
In English class his quizzes were based on the book they were reading, not
a film they had watched.

Kids and parents have to obey the laws, but so do school administrators.
The law says no one can demand that a student be tested for drugs unless he
exhibits physical or psychological symptoms of being under the influence of
drugs. This is not the case in Edison High School. The law also states that
if a student is removed from the general student body and put into an
alternative program, he must be instructed following the curriculum of his
regular classes. Nowhere in the law does it state that school
administrators may discipline a child by providing him with an inferior
education.

As parents we need to be vigilant with our children. We need to be sure our
kids know drugs are dangerous (yes, even marijuana). My kids know if you
break our rules you pay. They know if they break school rules they pay
twice -- once at school and once home. That is our right as their parents.
I never realized that administrators could punish students for breaking our
rules on "our time." Even if I had known this, I wouldn't have told my son,
for fear he would break the rules just so he could sleep all morning and
watch movies all afternoon.

Debra Donald

Edison