How do you know? 
Posted on 09/29/2004 5:28:16 AM PDT by closet freeper
A Rockdale County father is fuming over his daughter’s in-school suspension. He said the teen’s only crime was simply smelling like smoke. Salem High School said it was standing by its strict no-smoking policy.
Carlton Bates said his 17-year-old daughter, Amanda, went to the office at Salem and told an assistant principal she had an upset stomach.
The administrator there “grabbed her shirt, smelled it, started smelling her hair and said, ‘You’ve been smoking,’ and my daughter replied, ‘I haven’t been smoking, I don’t smoke,’” Bates said.
“She was not caught smoking, she was accused of smelling like smoke and put on five days’ suspension for that reason,” he added.
Salem’s principal Robert Cresswell stood by the school’s policy.
“Basically the girl smelled very strongly of smoke and we handled it as consistently and fair as we normally handle things,” he said.
Cresswell said the rules were no smoking or possession of smoking paraphernalia on campus. Smelling like smoke is not a violation but “we assume if you smell strongly of smoke, you’ve been smoking,” he said.
The girl’s father said he does not condone kids’ smoking, but he believes Amanda may have just been around friends who smoked off campus before school.
“She’s never been in trouble with that school system. We’ve talked to her teachers, they love the kid. She’s been a good daughter to us and I believe her,” Bates said. “If she says she’s not smoking, she’s not smoking.”
Bates has written the Rockdale County School Board asking for an apology and his daughter’s record to be cleared.
Amanda’s suspension is effective immediately. Principal Cresswell said the in-school suspension will not be a permanent entry on Amanda’s school transcripts.
Smoking nazis are getting worse!
Five days for smelling like smoke is absolutely insane.
I only got 3 days for actually smoking in the parking lot. What is the world coming to?
I guess the weak-minded don't realize that if your parents smoke you're going to smell of smoke. It permeates everything in her home.
She was smoking.
This doesn't pass the smell test!
I remember some of the smells that came from the more hygenically challenged students. Smoke smell is nothing compared to that.
I occaisonally got a ride with my sister and a friend of hers when I was in HS.
Her friend smoked and sitting in a car with it, I had the smell on me most of the day.
This story is outrageous.
So am I to assume that Cresswell is a nazi/liberal/jerk because he is acting like one?
"Cresswell said the rules were no smoking or possession of smoking paraphernalia on campus. Smelling like smoke is not a violation but “we assume if you smell strongly of smoke, you’ve been smoking,” he said."
Well, this statement really makes a lot of sense, but coming from a school administrator what can one expect? Most of them talk out of both sides of their mouths.
This suspension is ASSININE. It is thought police to the max. Were there witnesses? Did they illegally search her backpack and find... cigarettes? Nope.
This is right up there with suspending a first-grader because he drew a picture of a gun, ad nauseum. This story is NOT on the same lines as Illegal Immigrants being rounded up during DUI checks in Oakland, CA. Someone in the main office smelled "smoke" on the girl and summarily ordered her immediate suspension. This would be along the lines of a student showing up with a bruise on her cheek and school official immediately sic'ing police on the student's parents as CHILD ABUSERS.
Equal outcome is the desired result: ethnic majority kids should be punished at least as often as ethnic minority kids.
Prove it.
How do you know?
There's that chance, but circumstantial evidence is far from proof.
Hmmmm.... Grabbed her shirt and sniffed her, eh? Sounds like a pervert.
Cresswell said the rules were no smoking or possession of smoking paraphernalia on campus. Smelling like smoke is not a violation but “we assume if you smell strongly of smoke, you’ve been smoking,” he said.
Total BS! How many kids have parents that smoke? The whole house stinks of smoke and everything in it does too. My problem with this story is that they had NO proof that she was actually smoking. They didn't see her smoke, and smelling it on her clothes doesn't mean anything but she was around someone who smokes. If I were her parent, I'd be fighting this vigorously....just on principle.
I only got 3 days for actually smoking in the parking lot. What is the world coming to?
The eeeevil cigarette. Do you think the police will start pulling people over for random cigarette checks?
IGNORANCE - Thy name is "Zero Tolerance"
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