March 10, 2008
Punishment too harsh for North Salem sophomore suspended for nine weeks for smoking marijuana
When I first read that a North Salem sophomore had been suspended for nine weeks for smoking marijuana, I thought I had misunderstood.
I hadn't.
That is the punishment given to Pablo Rodriguez, a 16-year-old at North Salem High School, and it seems too harsh. Many of his neighbors think so too and they have been signing a petition asking school officials to reconsider.
After all, the officials would never have known about the remnants of a joint found in Rodriguez's pocket had his father not alerted them. The elder Rodriguez, also named Pablo, said he thought the community should face the problem of drugs in the middle and high schools.
"I went to the school for help and I received punishment," Rodriguez told The Journal News' Elizabeth Ganga.
Now, he believes parents should keep quiet instead and if that happens, an opportunity to confront drug use among young people will be lost.
You can appreciate the school district wanting to take a strong stand against substance abuse. Drugs and alcohol are a problem, especially when teenagers drive drunk or high. The schools superintendent, Kenneth Freeston, told Ganga that he was concerned about a perception that the schools were not addressing drugs.
But nine weeks? A week or two seems appropriate. If the problem is more serious maybe officials should be talking about treatment not punishment.
The younger Rodriguez told his father that he had bought the joint for $20 in the school library. Drugs are obtained easily in the schools, he said.
There may be circumstances about the Rodriguez case that would justify such severe discipline, ones the public doesn't know about. The superintendent could not speak specifically about this case. But if it is exactly as it appears, who can blame the father for his reaction?
North Salem might be consistent in how it punishes students. Other students said that those caught smoking marijuana on campus were suspended for only two weeks, but Freeston said that the students might be unaware of other cases.
Even so, nine weeks still seems very long. Plus, how effective is it?
This is not to downplay the seriousness of substance abuse. Here are some findings from a survey of high school students by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in 2005.
About 38 percent of teenagers have tried marijuana at least once, while 20 percent of them use marijuana currently.
When it comes to alcohol, the numbers are higher: 74 percent of high school students have tried it; 26 percent have had a recent episode of heavy drinking, defined as more than five drinks within a couple of hours. Alcohol-related car accidents are a leading cause of death for young people

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'nuff said!

Well first off, the father is a fucking RETARD, I mean why the hell would you tell the school that your child was caught smoking marijuana, b/c he bought it there? He could have bought it on the street, but I bet his father wouldn't have ran up on some dude on the street! The kid may be 16, but is definitely an idiot. He should have said that he found the marijuana joint on the ground before school and that he smoked it b/c well EVERYONE ELSE DOES . And 9 weeks suspension? How the hell is he going to get caught up, hes probably in the 9th grade to. This 9 weeks could end is education completely b/c he will be so FAR behind. If this was in my town, at my school, i would DEF call the school and let the fucking principle have a peace of my mind.