An Akron, Ohio middle-school student just received a five day suspension for what school officials claimed was “crack”. The only problem with the school’s claim was that what the students called “happy crack” was just a nickname for powdered Kool-Aid and sugar.
Iverson Sibley, 14, did nothing wrong. She did nothing illegal. All she did was bought a sugary mix that students jokingly referred to as “happy crack” due to it’s hyperactive effects when eaten or mixed into a drink.
It could not have been more innocent. But to officials at Akros Middle School, this was tantamount to an eighth-grade drug deal.
School officials said that security cameras caught Sibley engaged in “what looked like a drug-type transaction.”
Seriously.
What she was really doing was buying a Ziploc bag with a mixture of Kool-Aid powder and sugar from a friend. Students like the mixture for how “wired” it gets them – even helping them stay awake in class. But all of the innocent reasons why students like the Kool-Aid/sugar mix are irrelevant – because there is nothing wrong or illegal with what Sibley did.
In spite of that, she was given a five-day suspension anyway. Facts meant nothing to the school administrators.
Erika Yarborough, Sibley’s mother, says the punishment didn’t fit the “crime” – which in this case was not actually a crime at all.
“We want to encourage our kids to go to school, to better themselves. This is petty,” Yarborough explained. “She’s out of school for five days, not getting an education, because she had some sugar in her pocket.”
Yarborough ended up withdrawing her daughter from the charter school, after speaking to the principal, hoping for a resolution that never came.
She says her daughter will return to Akron Public Schools, and start Buchtel High School Thursday.
The school issued the following statement to local News New 5:
Akros Middle School opened in 2010 to provide school choice to the parents in the Akron and surrounding areas. Many of our students have moved on to local private high schools and college preparatory schools to further their education. It is unfortunate that discipline issues interfere with the educational process; however, many of our parents are appreciative that our school is known for its safe learning environment. We will continue to hold our students with high expectations to prepare them for a successful future.
What do you think about this incident? Do you buy the school’s response?
#1: Deckard To: Drug warriors (#0)
SC elementary students suspended for having Kool-Aid, sugar mixture called ‘happy crack’
Deckard posted on 2016-11-03 11:52:45 Reply Private Reply
#2: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Yeah. When I was kid that's how I bought my Kool-Aid -- from a friend, in a Ziploc bag, at school.
misterwhite posted on 2016-11-03 12:13:33 Reply Private Reply
#3: Roscoe To: misterwhite (#2)
Roscoe posted on 2016-11-03 12:15:47 Reply Private Reply
#4: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Akros Middle School is a charter school and does not put up with this bullshit. They have a published policy against "Possession, use or distribution of any substance represented to be a drug or alcohol".
So, yeah. She did do something wrong. Her mother ended up pulling her from that school and putting her into a public school. Where the trouble-maker belongs.
"The school treasurer said eight students were suspended, including some that were given more time away from the school than Sibley."
misterwhite posted on 2016-11-03 12:19:11 Reply Private Reply
#5: misterwhite To: Roscoe (#3)
misterwhite posted on 2016-11-03 12:21:04 Reply Private Reply
#6: TrappedInMd To: Deckard (#0)
Doesn't crack come in rocks not a powder?
TrappedInMd posted on 2016-11-04 08:39:36 Reply Private Reply
#7: TrappedInMd To: misterwhite (#4)
Kids looked like they were play acting drug dealer and buyer in school.
TrappedInMd posted on 2016-11-04 14:14:34 Reply Private Reply
#8: misterwhite To: TrappedInMd (#7)
Well, the black student was playing the drug dealer, so that added realism.
misterwhite posted on 2016-11-04 14:44:13 Reply Private Reply
#9: misterwhite To: TrappedInMd (#6)
Yes. And it's smoked, not swallowed.
misterwhite posted on 2016-11-04 14:47:05 Reply Private Reply
#10: Roscoe To: misterwhite (#5)
ahem
Roscoe posted on 2016-11-05 05:57:49 Reply Private Reply
#11: Roscoe To: misterwhite (#8)
I wonder if the resident dopers would accept the bag of white powder in the transparent bag as acceptable probable cause if there was a syringe in the bag too?
And a revolver. Then one of our resident Constitutional "experts" could pronounce that the Founding Fathers wanted to protect the right of young children to take loaded firearms to class.
Roscoe posted on 2016-11-05 06:06:28 Reply Private Reply
#12: misterwhite To: Roscoe (#11)
Hey! What part of "shall not be infringed" don't you understand?
People have the right to bear arms. Children are people. You take away their God-given right to self-defense with a full-auto AK-47, then where does it stop?
After they wipe out half their second-grade class, THEN you can punish them.
misterwhite posted on 2016-11-05 09:35:37 Reply Private Reply
#13: Gatlin To: Deckard (#1)
You see insanity in EVERYTHING....you are one sick puppy!
Gatlin posted on 2016-11-05 09:53:26 Reply Private Reply