Seniors caught with pot will graduate
Five students cited for having residual amounts of marijuana in their cars after police conducted a search at Waupaca High School will not be allowed to attend commencement, but they will graduate. On May 3, Waupaca police officers, assisted by a canine, performed a sweep of vehicles at the high school parking lot. The search uncovered small amounts of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicles of six students. Five of those students are seniors, and one is a junior. "No students were expelled," District Administrator David Poeschl said. "The six students are finishing the year in the education assistance program." Poeschl said the seniors will not be allowed on campus, while the junior will have limited access for the rest of this year and next year. Poeschl said the school district entered voluntary agreements with the parents of the students involved rather than holding an expulsion hearing. "The voluntary agreement allows the school district to place conditions on their return, such as community service and drug and alcohol assessment," Poeschl said. "This benefits the students because it allows them to graduate. They also perform community service and get a drug and alcohol assessment so that they know what they’re dealing with." Poeschl said that students who are part of a voluntary agreement are required to continue their studies either through the education assistance program or through a virtual school. Many of them take classes at the high school, but they arrive after classes have started and leave early in order to limit their contact with other students. Poeschl said the Waupaca School District prefers to use the voluntary agreement rather than expulsion. "It’s the only way we can place conditions on their return to school. If they are expelled for a period of time, we can’t place conditions," Poeschl said. He noted that several students have been allowed to return early. "Some kids are very successful in turning their lives around and the principals have petitioned for their early return," Poeschl said. One of the exceptions to the district’s efforts to avoid expulsion involved the 16-year-old girl who brought a gun to school. She has been expelled, and her case is currently being adjudicated in juvenile court.
More from Community News
- Winchester ready to launch summer programs
- Strawberry Sam and Sally winners sought
- Book group meeting in Scandinavia
- Hospice seeks pet therapy volunteers
- Student art on display at Waupaca High School
- Senior Recognition Ceremony at WHS
- Friends of lakes group meets at Holly Center
- Lioness blood drive May 21
- Salon celebrates anniversary with street dance
- City hires new economic development director
29 Comments for "Seniors caught with pot will graduate"
lastpercentile - time to turn the negativness about the community into a positive influance. Your posts are divisive.
DanJohn May 21, 2012 8:10 PM
Of those four places, only Africa is a continent. Therefore, your vast geographic claims are DOA. And, "been to" means nothing; that's what Navy vets say because they stayed in a country long enough to get drunk and throw up - once.
[quote]I don't do drugs - but I have close friends that do[/quote]
Interesting and telling. One of my criteria for close friends is "they don't do drugs - ever".
[quote]Your posts are divisive.[/quote]
Good. I would hope my time hasn't been wasted. I want to divide people from the lackadaisical approach to local: government, law enforcement, politicians, schools, courts...what else have you got? Oh - journalism.
lastpercentile May 21, 2012 9:15 PM
Your time has been wasted, your negativeness actually drives the community closer - and it's sad that you don't understand that. I have now wasted enough of my time -
DanJohn May 21, 2012 9:51 PM
I guess if there was an anti-lastpercentile rally, I wouldn't have been invited, and that explains why I don't understand.
[quote]I have now wasted enough of my time[/quote]
Another one concedes. Just when the community was coming together.
Off to the continent of New Zealand?
lastpercentile May 21, 2012 10:37 PM
DanJohn May 22, 2012 11:02 AM
Your first comment was to call me a "stupid person". You didn't turn negative, you always were negative - so take your 3rd grade psychoanalysis back to the playground.
[quote]I have now wasted enough of my time - Nope[/quote]
Nope is right.
[quote]if you don't like the area so much you should get involved to make a change[/quote]
This [b]is[/b] how I get involved to make a change.
And just to be clear, I'm not interested in holding a conversation on here. Every one of these lopsided debates were started by somebody else; usually with an [i]ad hominem[/i] remark. Up to, and including, you.
lastpercentile May 22, 2012 1:02 PM
independenthinker May 23, 2012 8:53 AM
I think - before you enter into a debate on a subject - you should consider whether you know enough about the subject to not waste everyone's time.
I wouldn't try to debate the finer (or even basic) strategies of curling, for example.
lastpercentile May 23, 2012 9:53 AM
lastpercentiIe May 23, 2012 9:43 PM
waupacaborn May 25, 2012 12:49 PM
The school had the police come in and do a sweep to look for drugs. what were they planning on doing when they found some?
nsp27 May 28, 2012 11:39 AM
Drug possession on school grounds is going to be a felony. The most recent sweep didn't find any drugs, per se. According to reports, they found "marijuana residue" and paraphernalia. That's a city "ticket", on the same crime level as driving without a seatbelt. And nobody (should) get expelled for a ticket.
[quote]what were they planning on doing when they found some?[/quote]
They didn't care if they found anything or not. The plan was to show parents that the school system was "tough on crime". After screwing up on the armed student situation, they needed to create some misdirection. The K9 patrol was a stunt.
And it worked.
The school should not have taken any action, until the cases were adjudicated by the courts.
lastpercentile May 28, 2012 1:01 PM
nsp27 May 28, 2012 9:50 PM
Because it's beer, you can't be charged with having an open container of alcohol in your car - due to insufficient evidence.
But if it's a pipe with the same amount of "residual" marijuana, you've violated not one, but two, city ordinances.
If the pipe was clean there would be no violation.
For that matter, if the residue was smeared on the floor mat, there's be no violation - at least not one that could be prosecuted.
99 out of 100 pot smokers will just buy another pipe (1 guy will steal one). Writing residue/paraphernalia tickets is just a waste of time. Cops would be more productive by confiscating them, and melting them down for a paper weight.
lastpercentile May 29, 2012 7:11 AM