Ever have someone hand you something that you then realized you didn’t want?
That’s what happened to Rachel Greer, a seventh grade student in Jefferson, Indiana. She was in the locker room when another female student brought in a bag of Adderall:
Rachael Greer said it happened on Feb. 23 during fifth period gym class at River Valley Middle School when a girl walked into the locker room with a bag of pills.
“She was talking to another girl and me about them and she put one in my hand and I was like, ‘I don’t want this,’ so I put it back in the bag and I went to gym class,” said Rachael.
Believe it or not, kids do say no to drugs.
However, that really doesn’t matter to Greater Clark County Schools. She touched the pill. She’s guilty as sin, even though she didn’t actually “sin.”
During the next period, an assistant principal came and took Rachael out of class. It turned out the girl who originally had the pills and a few other students got caught. That’s when the assistant principal gave Rachael a decision.
“We’re suspending you for five days because it was in your hand,” said Rachael.
Think that is bad, consider this. If Rachel had given the pill back, walked out of the gym and told the gym teacher about what happened, the same punishment would have been given to Rachel.
Now, what would motivate her to tell anyone about drugs on school property? In the future, how many kids will be thrown under the bus when a pusher gets pinched? Seems like it would be pretty easy to finger a kid who you think might have told on you. Just tell the teacher they touched it and they get a nice drug related addition to their permanent record.
The only thing Rachel did wrong was not turning in the girl who had the drugs, but then again, it wouldn’t have mattered. She’d still be suspended and her scholastic future made that much more difficult because of regulations that prevent common sense and judgement from school officials.
