Students suspended for drug possession

A number of students were suspended last week for being in possession of illegal substances at the school, according to Principal Wynne Satterwhite.

Marijuana was initially discovered in a bag on the floor of the boys locker room during second period on Wednesday, May 5. A freshman student found the bag and turned it in to the PE teacher John Payne.

“Lots of kids came up to me like, ‘Why didn’t you give it to me?’” said the student who found the bag, a male freshman who asked to remain anonymous for his own protection.

During brunch the same day, the student who found the bag was approached by the student who was formerly in possession of it. The bag’s finder decided to inform Assistant Principal Seth Leslie as to whom its former owner was.

“It’s illegal,” said the student who found the bag, citing this and possible disciplinary actions as reasons for revealing the student in possession.

The student who informed Leslie was called into a meeting with Assistant Principal Ralph Cave and Leslie on Thursday, May 6.

“The administration’s obligation is to make sure that everybody’s safe here, and drugs on campus is an issue of safety,” Leslie said. “We need to make sure if there’s drugs on campus that … we deal with it.”

According to Satterwhite, “multiple people were involved in this incident,” though the extent of “the problem,” Leslie said, is still to be determined.

“We don’t want to accuse children of doing something wrong when they’re not,” Satterwhite said. “Sometimes [sorting out the facts] takes a very long time.”

A number of students were searched and suspended for possession of marijuana earlier last week.

“It’s the standard consequences of having any kind of illegal drugs on campus,” Satterwhite said.

School policy states that “students caught with paraphernalia or drugs or under the influence” on campus receive three days of suspension for the first offense and five days for the second. Selling leads to expulsion.

According to Satterwhite, drug sales were not involved in the incident.

“Anything that’s happen[ing] on campus that potentially jeopardizes the safety or feelings of safety of students is a concern for us,” Leslie said. “We just need to make sure that if we hear anything or we suspect anything that we investigate. We want to make sure everybody’s safe.”

At the moment, the administration is still investigating the incident.

“[We’re] trying to help kids make their best choices,” Satterwhite said. “Our biggest desire, obviously, is to get kids to stop.”