that is the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard! what the heck is wrong with these schools! are you freaking serious!

The principal said that “this was a teachable moment”.  Well, yes it was, but if you don’t EXPLAIN what’s wrong with the behavior, then what have you taught the child?  He clearly doesn’t understand what he did wrong, and probably didn’t in the classroom - that’s why he didn’t stop when told to, he didn’t have a clue that sniffing a permanent marker was a problem.  It matters that he’s only 8.

Now, a 12-year-old, who’s been through drug education classes, would most likely be sniffing on purpose.  I found out about “huffing” from my children… so an older child who knew it was wrong should get suspended, and they all should be told how dangerous it is; but not an 8-year-old.

By making such a big deal out of this, they probably taught all other kids how they can get high from sniffing markers. If they had let it go and just changed his shirt, none of the kids would have ever known the difference.

I agree that the principal completely missed the ‘teachable’ moment.  He should have explained the dangers of sniffing the markers and issued a warning or detention for not following directions.  He obviously wasn’t ‘using’ and didn’t understand the punishment which kind of makes the punishment useless in ‘teaching’ anything. 
Consequences should be age and offense appropriate--this was obviously not the case.

What exactly is the big deal here?  When I was in school, they HAD scented markers for us to use.  If the boy kept getting in trouble for using the “dangerous” marker, I have to ask two questions - 1 - Why does he repeatedly have access to this type of marker in the classroom in the first place, and 2 - If this was such an on-going problem with this child, I would have expected the Principal/school to contact the parents before overreacting with a suspension!  I don’t understand why they jumped right to a suspension without ever having a meeting with the parents.  Or is that too civilized a solution?  Or maybe just too much work?

All I can say is that when my kids make it into school, I will be a pain in the rear if the school makes such stupid decisions.

1.  The item of clothing in question is clearly a JACKET.  If the teacher had a problem with the student sniffing the JACKET, he/she should have asked for it and returned it to the student after class. Then had a one on one explaining the reason for the removal.

2.  I have to wonder if the child is having the sins of the father visited upon him.  I’m a person with an “alternative” lifestyle on top of being a minority and had often faced my child being subjected to more scrutiny than those children with “conservative” parent.  Then I started spending more time in the classroom so that the teacher could get to know me as a person.  It’s helped alot but I can’t help think that teachers still believe the old adage that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” and they are basing their opinion of the person based on how they look.

3.  I agree with meined04 about the parental notification.  It seems like school officials/administrators take far too many liberties when their own policies say “notify the parents before action is taken”.