A student at Nichols Middle School ate a marijuana edible and was taken to the hospital emergency room Wednesday afternoon, the school’s principal said in an evening email to parents and guardians.
“This afternoon, the Nichols administration team was made aware that a student ingested an edible (a food product containing marijuana) which caused a reaction that caught the attention of one of our staff members,” wrote Principal Marcus Wright. “Emergency personnel were contacted and the student was transported to the emergency room with support from their guardian. The student is stable and recovering well.”
Wright wrote that school administrators “immediately launched an investigation and learned that the student was given the edible by another student.” He said the administrators “promptly addressed the concern with all of the individuals determined to be involved, confiscated the substance, and contacted family members.”
The principal said the school handbook “prohibits any type of drugs on school grounds or at school-related events, and considers this to be a Level 4 infraction” (the second-highest level).
The handbook states that the response to a Level 4 violation can involve a formal intervention plan, substance use and abuse education, an out-of-school suspension or family collaboration meetings.
“We take these matters seriously and recognize the need to further educate our young people on the harmful effects and legalities of using substances of this nature,” Wright wrote.
This is a developing story and may update.
I hate to be settling bets over something as disturbing as this but it seems that Tom is correct! Here is how it went down today (Thursday) according to our kid who shares a class with the student who supplied the gummies as well as another class with the kid who had to go to the hospital:
Not only was the kid who supplied the drugs still in class today, but he was bragging and showing off more weed gummies today in class according to two kids I talked with. He was also making fun of the kid who had to be taken to the hospital. Ugh.
I have to say that this incident was so disturbing for a lot of the kids and not for the fact it was drugs or the way we think about drugs. Rather it was the fact that kids came back from school Wednesday completely horrified (including our own kid). When I picked ours up there were other kids outside of school crying and comforting each other. The rumors that flew around in Nichols pointed to a kid ODing on some kind of drug (the kids I talked with all assumed it was an act of self harm). I find these assumptions heartbreaking but totally understandable given how much these kids deal with between surges of school shootings and elevated teen suicide.
Then total radio silence from district 65 until finally Principle Marcus Wright wrote an email at 6:10pm to the parents explaining that it was a marijuana edible given to a kid by another kid. The letter didn’t explain if the kid was dosed as a prank (which is what kids at Nichols heard today). If that is the case I have no idea why that would be a level 4 infraction rather than a level 5 infraction? Dosing some one with out their knowledge seems like it would be illegal no? I tried googling it and didn’t come to any conclusive language that I could understand. Distributing drugs on school ground is definitely illegal.
Our kids were relieved when we found out that it was marijuana. I have no idea why it took the district that long to put out an email explaining what happened. It would have been really helpful for the kids traumatized by the rumors to receive that information earlier.
All of this got me wondering about how often kids are getting in to edibles on accident: according to this article “The number of exposures to edible cannabis among children 5 and younger from 2017-2021 reported in Illinois increased from 5 to 232 cases — a 4,500% increase.”!
https://www.chicagotribune.com/marijuana/illinois/ct-illinois-marijuana-edibles-warning-20230123-7aecpuovwbdtbeaz7mzqtxc4ra-story.html
(Note: I am trying to post this again because the last one lost the formatting?)
Tom,
I’ll take that bet, for $5.00 !!
I’m guessing they’re out at least a day or 2.
Oh wow, a level 4 infraction! The student might have to sit through a “Formal Restorative Conference”
Of course, the Handbook also advises that before they can dole out any punishment, the following factors must be considered:
• Health, mental illness, or undiagnosed disabilities
• Appropriateness of the student’s academic placement
• Peer factors, e.g. whether student has been bullying victim
• Prior experiences and exposure to trauma
• Family situations, e.g. homelessness, domestic violence, divorce or separation
• Substance abuse or addiction
• Any other events out of the ordinary
• LGBTQ+ Status
I would put odds 100 to 1 that kid is back in school tomorrow.