Expulsion for marijuana

yeah-nah · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 6:41 pm

i do not know why marijuana is not legal. if they trialed it for about 2 months, im sure they'll notice some dramatic, positive changes. but meh.. new zealands just a poorly run country. not just with the laws, but most other things aswell.

i went to europe last year, because im originally from Yugoslaiva. and things are sooooo much more laid back there. people are so much more stressed and worrying about all their fines all the time here. fucking sucks..

ganja_man · Newbie Joined: Feb 22, 2006 Posts: 6 Location: NZ

I wasn't instantly expelled i got caught like 3 weeks ago then i got suspended then expelled fuk Boys High

paula · Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:40 pm

Well I wish it was that simple, it would be a lot easier to change. Its not just Boys' High though is it, they buy into the bullshit 'facts' like sheep.

Seems to me that most people in any position worth losing are too scared of losing it to:

a. bother to find out what is behind the scare headlines in media, and;
b. speak up and talk intelligently about it.

If how its reported in media is to be believed we should be in the midst of a schizophrenia epidemic for a start. Which of course we aren't.

Though the issue is relatively complicated, its still so easy to pick large holes in their argument. No wonder they want to shut us down.

DrAcid · Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 4:11 pm

haha! you got expelled from grammar dude? niiiiiiice hahahaha

skunkpunk · Regular Joined: Dec 07, 2006 Posts: 29 Location: NZ

I went to a catholic school which was quite strict compared to other schools in the area. I was caught in 5th form on school camp with 3 friends smoking a joint behind the complex we were staying at in Turangi.

I was a bright student and excelled in all my subjects. I never sat school c final exams but on the half year mock up I scored among the top 2 percent in the country for everything but math. My three friends were not especially clever and discriminated against because of it.

When we arrived home to face our parents and the school we were all shitting ourselves over what might happen. There was a meeting and it was decided that my friends were to be expelled immediately. I however was retained as a student after a 2 week suspension.

This was grossly unfair and caused a rift between me and my friends .
They felt I had probably betrayed them for my lighter "sentence" but this was not the case. I later discovered that the school had me listed for dux for the following year and that my test scores alone raised the schools average test results significantly higher. High enough in fact that it would have been embarrasing for them to let me go over such a matter.

I returned to school after my suspension to face a barrage of discrimination and abuse from most of the teaching faculty. There were only one or two teachers who just let me get on with my schoolwork without interference.

After about a week of unfair treatment I'd had enough. I just picked up my bag and books and walked out. I had to get signatures from all my teachers to allow me to leave and it felt great to tell some of them what was really on my mind before I left. Back then it felt like the right thing and I felt satisfied as I walked out the gates. They would't even give me a yearbook even though my artwork graced the cover.

Looking back I wish I'd stayed and completed my education. This happened 11 yrs ago and since then I've worked a variety of odd jobs mostly at minimum wage for a bunch of wankers I didn't like. I could have been one of the leaders of this country or anything I wanted but instead Im on a benefit and smoking and growing weed.

Consuming taxpayers dollars has become one of my favourite pastimes. Its like a game to me and I enjoy the fact that my lifestyle is paid for by the same people who tell me what I can and can't do. I go fishing most days if the weathers nice. I live a charmed life and get the most out of my day that I can but I still feel I could have accomplished more with my life if Id stayed at school.

I have tried working for my paycheck but its not in my interest as I make more than when working fulltime on a benefit. There is no incentive for beneficeries to get off the couch and find work. Stay at school, get good grades then build as many huge expensive growrooms as you can afford. Don't get caught! it can spoil your life if you aint careful but if you are sensible it can be as wonderful as anything in life.

nuaster · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:46 pm

Skunkpunk, kudos for your ethic and believing what you felt was right. Many others may not have the same courage as you did.

My story is slightly different. 12 years ago, I was attending sixth form at private presbyterian college* (Christchurch) boarding as an international student. I absolutely disliked it there. Not just because of the contrived bourgeoise image but also the many (not all) excessively pompous rich kids who measured you by what you had.

Whilst trying to fit in as a normal teenager, a "friend" was caught with my 3/4 tinny (we were going to share it with his bunch) and was quick to nominate me as the owner. His friends obviously sided with him and their story was consistent. Although he wasn't that great a student but had lots of connections and was excused. I was on the other hand in one of the better classes, but solo and helpless - and a convenient scapegoat.

The next morning, after a 1/2 hour meeting with the principal, he agreed not to inform the cops (why anyway? that'll blackmark the reputation of the school in the press) and I was immediately expelled and made an example of. That very afternoon i found myself flying back to my original country with the clothes on my back and plastic bags for handcarry.

Well? all that for 3/4 a tinny that wasn't in my possession. I have learnt at an early age that the drug is not bad. Just those who demonstrate their power on the helpless based on trivial reasons such as this.

*Edit - On second thought I removed the name of the college

Tony · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:51 pm

My daughter was at a rather expensive private girls school in Havelock North .

She got caught in an undercover sting , cops in school uniform .

I went down immediately .. Found from her that most of the upper school including her smoked a bit of cannabis but a few were actually on hard stuff .

I met with the Head Mistress and board reps .. had my daughter come clean about her cannabis use ( usually just a part joint before Chapel on Sundays.)... Without name I did warn them that a bigger problem existed .

The outcome was of all the girls identified over 17 of them .. my daughter was the only one to get expelled , all the others had Solicitors and even the ring leaders got off scot free..

And after nearly dying of a hard drug OD , when she got out of hospital one of the other girls got flown out of the country ..but her and the other heavy drug users also got off scot free ..Money did the talking not common sense ..

My daughter learnt that Honesty does not pay and to have enough money to bribe or legal ease your way out of a problem.. not be truthful ..Lie or deny ..

I lost all faith in our private School system and the integrity of the other parents ... and was even the police swept it under the carpet because of the other parents legal stance including the Over dose on the hard stuff.when these grils used to sneak out of the dorm and go to night clubs..to get the drugs..
My daugter only smoked a bit of pot along with a dozen or so girls and infrequently .. She has a partner , Kid and great job now but no education to speak of , and she was a high achiever , an honest one at that ..

The advise i would have given her in hindsight is not the advise I gave her at the time.. Honesty does not pay..

tony

cow · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:29 pm

This thread is yet another indication of how behind-the-times the New Zealand public is. It's not just the politicians and judges, it's almost everyone.

Where I'm from, the people who don't smoke pot don't care if other people do. Live and let live. Here, if you don't smoke, you are most likely are against it because you've been told to be against it. Live and force your views on everyone. What the fuck? Don't people ever question the status quo here? When I first came to New Zealand I had ideas of a laid back nation of free thinkers. Bullshit. There are a few people like that here, but most people are just like the sheep they farm.

Two interesting things about my high school experience, years ago:

1. My biology teacher in grade 11 let us start our seedlings in the school greenhouse until they were big enough to be recognised as pot plants. Then he made us transplant them outside to the bush near the school. We would check on them during class excursions if we had the chance. The seedlings never grew into anything decent because as soon as summer came, school was over and we stopped looking after them. Plus, most of us had a better grow going in our own locations anyway, but damn that teacher was cool.

2. We smoked pot all over the school grounds, and the vice principal would just tell us to "beat it" if he saw us. He only got upset if we came back to class stoned because we stank and bothered the other students. If we blazed a joint and just skipped the afternoon classes it was all cool. Sometimes we'd get high insomeones car in the parking lot, and that was cool too. Out of sight, out of mind.

That being said, my group of friends were all good students and our marks never suffered. We had a good time, but we weren't stupid about it. I think if we were shit students we would have paid the price for smoking at school. I know a lot of people who got in serious trouble, but that's because they were failing their classes and generally acting like dicks towards the teachers.

Another interesting point:

My partner is a high school teacher in Auckland, and she smokes pot. She would never attempt to search a student's bag or even say anything if someone looked stoned. She'd only get upset if the stoned student was acting like an ass or was doing something so obvious that she would get in trouble with school management for not doing anyting.

Anyway, I'm not saying kids should smoke pot in school and I'm not saying they shouldn't but the truth is that some do and not all of them will have teachers as cool as I did. I think kids who get caught at school might deserve it because they could be a whole lot sneakier if they wanted to. Then again, I guess part of being a teenager is seeing how far you can push the boundaries. Unfortunately in New Zealand, where the electric fence was invented, the boundary just zaps you with a shitload of volts when you push it and the sheep go back to grazing.

I'm not hating on New Zealand, I'm just...ah...fuck it...I am hating on New Zealand. Any country that sends undercover cops in school uniform into schools to bust kids is still in the dark ages. Shit like that makes me want to go home. Tony, you should come with me.
_________________
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

Tony · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:01 pm

Hey cow , trying to encourage me to leave the country .

you must be in the pay of Anderton and Co .. shame on you..

Na I gotta battle to win , then i might go live for awhile in my little cabin in Grass valley ( I love the name ) Nevada City Nth Cal. It handy to the Golden State Patient Care Collective in Colifax and I can experiment with the variuose medical varieties they stock..

tony

nuaster · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:58 pm

cow · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:30 am

Tony,

My tongue was planted firmly in my cheek when I suggested you leave.

Maybe I should take Anderton on a tour of my home country instead, and show him that society can function perfectly well while still showing compassion to dope smokers (medical or otherwise). Or I could just leave him in the Canadian Arctic where he could try to impose his views on some polar bears...

But seriously, you're lucky to have a place to visit in Nevada City. I've been through that part of California to visit some wineries on my way to San Francisco and it's beautiful country there. The wine isn't as good as on the other side of the central valley, but it's gold country if I'm not mistaken and it feels like the wild west. No matter what people say, there are more good parts in America than bad parts - especially in California. I'm still waiting for a mother-earthquake to destroy LA, but I hope the rest of the state survives.
_________________
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

Tony · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:56 am

Cow,

the feedback coming out of Canada regards medical cannabis sure supports the more liberal view they took.

It seems now rather than being driven by the medical users its now the medical Specilaists who are in the fore .

The anti brigade are having real problems in trying to find anything negative to counter even the more liberal recreational use let alone medical..
Even a change in Govt that was likely to cause a problem seems not to have eventuated , the evidence is too overwhelming in favour of the liberal approach .

Anderton is not worthy of time out in the canadian Arctic region , its more suited to the pure in heart and mind and those who enjoy a sticky joint to enhance the experience ..

Let him go to Toronto in the winter .

tony

cow · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:43 pm

Tony said:

paula · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:35 pm

Here's another poor guy strung up by his school for pot, but its great to see his mum is supporting him. I really hope the school loses its appeal : a pox on them for wasting their resource money on lawyers.

College appeals for right to expel student
May 20, 2008
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10511270

An Auckland high school yesterday went to the Court of Appeal over a High Court ruling overturning the expulsion of a 16-year-old student. The lawyer for Lynfield College argued it followed proper process when expelling the student last year. The case prompted new advice to all schools on what to do when pupils seriously misbehave. Lynfield college had to take back the student after he successfully sued the school board and its principal, Stephen Bovaird, through his litigation guardian. The student is known as "J" in court documents and legally cannot be identified.

J was suspended in March last year after he was caught wagging with a cannabis pipe in his bag. He returned to school under strict conditions, but was one of five students - termed "alleged delinquents" by Justice John Priestley in court yesterday - who misbehaved the following week during a camp with 36 others at Mt Tongariro.

Mr Bovaird previously told the Herald it was hard for schools to operate under the judgment and he was appealing to seek clarification on how schools should apply the law.

Lynfield College's lawyer, Richard Harrison, told the Court of Appeal the decile 7 school took correct steps before expelling the then Year 12 student. Mr Harrison said J was effectively on notice when he went to camp. The college, which has a roll of about 1800, had to balance the interests of the individual with those of the wider school, the lawyer said.

The High Court judgment had swung too far in favour of the student. He told the Court of Appeal the school did not want J out and planned to formally readmit him to finish his final year if its appeal was successful.

The student's lawyer, Simon Judd, said J's mother had not been called before her son was suspended the second time. "If your child's in trouble, you would expect a phone call." Mr Judd said the board of trustees' meeting was considering matters of disputed facts, yet only allocated 30 minutes. He said it was not reasonable to conclude that J had changed from a "friendly, cheerful and positive member of form" in March last year to a continually disobedient student who had to be expelled two months later. He said the original case was about one student who feared not getting into another school if he was expelled at 16 and the appeal was moot because wider policy issues could be dealt with by the Ministry of Education or Parliament.

The judges, led by Justice Mark O'Regan, reserved their decision. In a relatively rare step, the ministry "intervened" to offer expert advice at yesterday's hearing. The case had already spurred the ministry to send advice to schools as it created new obligations when investigating serious misbehaviour.

The boy at the centre of the case is "doing well" in Year 13 at Lynfield College, his mother told the Herald. Now 17, J is on track to complete NCEA Level 3 and aims to go to university next year. "He likes ancient history, he likes psychology," said his mother. "But because he had to change courses part way through last year - when he got back in - he had to pick up some other things because he missed so much of the rest when he was expelled. But he passed them, which is amazing because he only did half a year."

J is the younger of the widow's sons. She said he had not been in trouble since returning to school after last year's court case. "That's why I fought it - I thought, 'There's been no trouble before' and, of course, there's been no trouble after," she said.

The judicial review last year was told J had had a good track record for most of his four years at Lynfield College. He was described as positive, polite and co-operative.
His mother said that during the previous Christmas holidays, J had lost a friend through a drowning and two in car crashes. He had also been bullied.

Tony · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:44 am

Seems we have more lives ruined , I wonder when the system will realize singling out kids like this and hammering them is just not working. If the level of cannabis use by kids at Westlake Boys is half as much as I hear it is and is in line with national levels these kids represent less that 7 % of the potential. Ok they might have been a bit more active and careless , but never the less the tip of the iceberg.All this sort of outcome achieves is just the kids being more careful.

I sure don't approve of cannabis in schools nor for that matter under 18 use , but if pushed would rather see kids using cannabis moderately that alcohol .

But its education , support and not over reaction thats needed.

nzherald.co.nz
School ejects 12 drug-ring pupils
5:00AM Tuesday June 17, 2008
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie
Westlake Boys High School. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Westlake Boys High School. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Twelve boys have been kicked out of a top New Zealand school after it discovered students were using and supplying cannabis.

Westlake Boys High School started an investigation about a fortnight ago after a tip-off that one student had been seen with the drug.

The probe netted 16 pupils.

Headmaster Craig Monaghan was involved in about 30 interviews to uncover what he described as a "small, contained ring".

Some students had brought cannabis to school and sold it, and others had used the drug.

Mr Monaghan said Westlake Boys had a zero-tolerance drug policy.

"The school was determined that it would not stop until any boy associated with this small, contained ring was at least investigated," he said.

Sixteen pupils went before the board of trustees last week.

Mr Monaghan said 12 were excluded - a punishment for behaviour judged to be "gross misconduct" for students aged under 16.

The other four were permitted to return to school on strict conditions.

Mr Monaghan told the Herald the school's strong stance was a reason for the large number of students uncovered, and he was confident any boy involved had appeared before the board.

"I'm not saying other schools bury their heads in the sand, but I'm certain we probably went further than most schools I've been involved with," he said.

"We wanted to make sure we got to the bottom of it."

The decile-nine school is known for its hard line on discipline.

It made headlines in January with the introduction of a "graduation" scheme to stop Year 9 and 10 students moving up a year level if they didn't reach standards in homework, punctuality and attitude.

Mr Monaghan said the investigation did not find any evidence that drugs other than cannabis had been brought to Westlake Boys.

The first instance of the drug being brought in had happened only 2 1/2 weeks before the tip-off.

He said a core of three or four students were involved and it was unfortunate other boys, thought to all be in Year 10, ended up linked.

"No matter how much they were involved with it, zero tolerance means zero tolerance - they were put in front of the board."

The school's message was reinforced to students at a special assembly this month.

A letter sent to all parents yesterday outlined the details and reinforced the school's zero-tolerance policy.

Details of the investigation, including the students' names, were not revealed.

The letter urged parents to discuss with their children the dangers of experimenting with drugs and the importance of coming forward if they saw anything inappropriate.

"It is clear that some boys who were not involved knew it was occurring and did not report it need some guidance about how they should have acted," it said.

"Your support in having such a conversation with your son will reinforce the clear message given by the school."

Mr Monaghan said several parents sent messages of support within hours of receiving the letter.

Police were not called to deal with the students but he believed the name of a person who was not a student was passed to officers.

EXCLUDED

* Latest Ministry of Education figures show 1556 exclusion cases throughout New Zealand in 2006. Of these, 14 per cent related to misuse of drugs.

* Exclusion is similar to expulsion, but applies to students aged under 16, who must enrol in another school.


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