Larry’s Log

Well, here’s another example of stupid zero tolerance policies… and this one just a few miles down the road from my house.

A student at Grayson High School, in Gwinnett County, was stopped by a school administrator when he was spotted wearing the shirt that read “Hempstead, NY 516), a reference to the Long Island town, and its area code. But, the administrator only saw the first four letters of the town’s name, and believed it to be a drug reference.

“It was ridiculous,” says Caron Jones, mother of Terrell Jones. “They were labeling him that he was advertising marijuana,” she says. The family moved to Gwinnett from Hempstead, and never considered that the hemp in Hempstead might cause any problems at the boy’s school. “I had no idea that hemp stands for marijuana until I looked it up in the dictionary,” Mrs. Jones says. “But, his t-shirt says Hempstead, not hemp.”

After being questioned by school officials, Terrell finally convinced them to do a search on the internet and see that there really is, in fact, a Hempstead. After determining the existance of the town, the boy was allowed to return to class. The boy’s father is still furious.

Okay, I really understand that clothing with references to drugs and alcohol have no place in a school setting. What gets me in this situation is that these people who are suppose to be educating my kid in, among other things, geography had to be told by the student how to confirm that Hempstead, NY referred to a real town and was not a drug reference.

And my son is in this school system.