Yep, you’ve read that correctly.
A ten year old boy saw something on the floor in school, picked it up and showed it to a friend. The friend told the teacher, boy who found object in question was suspended for drug possession!?!?
Now, I got this story from the boy’s mom and then from the boy.
The boy is my grandson. He is African American, or Black. He is as all kids his age, curious. He isn’t afraid of much, if anything. He is fastidious, especially about how he presents himself to the world. He has adopted his grandfather’s morning routine, almost exactly. His mom won’t allow him to wear cologne.
He is also brutally honest. He learned at a young age that honesty is the best policy after we told him that it’s the road to less retribution. He accepts corrections, sure sometimes not graciously, but he accepts it.
AND, yes he gets in trouble – he’s 10.
I watched my hubby speak to him after I brought him home from school the day he got suspended.
First, let me say, we know he’s not perfect. In all honesty, he has done some kid stuff that this zero tolerance school culture frowns upon… he took an old vape out of the trash and took it to school… I must admit, it was cool looking. (Hence the lawsuit for marketing to teens) (I may include a pic of it)
Next he was rough housing on the bus and well… yeah. He did that. We accepted the fact that he’d earned that one day suspension from the bus.
However, this drug thing, is another thing all together. The Principal has admitted to being overly sensitive about what appears to be drug related issues because of losing her brother to drug addiction. And while I’m trying to tell myself that my grandson wasn’t racially profiled… I’ll admit it comes across that way. I had to leave the room when I heard my hubby began to tearfully have THE TALK with our ten year old grandson.
He didn’t even know what was in the baggy, which was why he picked it up.
Sigh, I believe that this could have been better handled by the school. They have wrongfully assumed that he brought the item from home, which puts the ball squarely in my court. Game on!
I’ll keep you posted.
From the Desk of an Author 