SHANICE WATSON, STAR Writer

Two boys are now desperately seeking to be reinstated in a learning institution after they were booted from a well-known high school in St Andrew for selling 'weed cakes' to their schoolmates.

THE STAR learned that the grade-nine boys brought the marijuana-laced pastries to school earlier this month, and sold it to their schoolmates for between $100 and $200.

One student who claimed to have witnessed the ordeal explained what happened.

"One a my classmates buy it first then him make a friend taste it. The two a dem get frass, dem eye start turn different colour like red and pink, dem start gwaan wid a bag a things. One bwoy start hallucinate, him see the sprinkler inna the schoolyard and think a pool so him chuck off," the student recalled.

Unwarranted

Another who admitted to purchasing and consuming the contraband said, "It neva affect me because me used to it, but the one dem who no used to it did affi pack up inna the nurse office. Nuff a dem did in there."

The STAR leaned that no action was taken against those who consumed the cake, however, the two boys were told to find another school to attend.

The father for one of the boys, admitting his son's actions were wrong, feels the stance taken by the school was unwarranted and is seeking to have his child reinstated.

"The school board called a meeting with the mother and they told her to sign something that said he [the son] will withdraw from school, and they said if she didn't sign it, my son would be expelled from school instead," the father explained. "I agree that my son is wrong, but he should get a second chance. I believe the decision taken by the board is too harsh. He is just 15. If you throw a kid out of school, you are breeding criminals. The mother shouldn't sign the paper without my consent."

Extremely difficult

The father said he has sent a letter to the school board requesting another meeting to make an appeal, as it is extremely difficult to be admitted into another school at this stage of the semester.

But the school board has completely denied the weed cake selling and 'kicking out' of the students. The Board chairman, when pressed, said he does not intend to put his school into any disrepute.

Communications Director at the Ministry of Education, Byron Buckley, said he is aware that students can be suspended and expelled under the regulatory code of schools, however, he does not know of a 'withdrawal action'.

He said the ministry supports actions of discipline taken by school boards as long as they are in line with the Education Act.

Buckley said the ministry prefers when children are kept in schools, and noted that the aggrieved parents should make a report to the regional authority and have the ministry mediate the situation.