School punishes girl for vitamin
No-tolerance policy means all pills go to the school nurse
Greenville News

While her Sirrine Elementary classmates practiced spelling and counting, 7-year-old Alexandrea Ramsey watched cartoons and munched on a cheeseburger at her Grandma's house Wednesday while serving a one-day suspension for bringing a vitamin to school in her pocket.

"I was bored," the pig-tailed first-grader said of her day out of the classroom.

Alexandrea's suspension stemmed from the school district's zero-tolerance policy that requires school nurses to dispense all medication -- including vitamins.

"I think they're going a little bit overboard with this zero-tolerance stuff," said Marion Ramsey, the girl's grandmother.

Roger Meek, the school board chairman, stood by the rule. "What may be one medicine to one student could harm very seriously another student," he said.

Sirrine Principal Vanessa Stuckey Brown declined to comment other than to say the school had "an incident" and dealt with it.

Alexandrea's mother, Charlene, said her daughter had never been sent to the principal's office before. "She's down about it," she said. "She's thinking she did something wrong."

School district officials said that it's up to principals to decide how to discipline students who violate the policy.

Charlene Ramsey said she knew about the policy, but didn't know her daughter stashed the translucent vitamin E capsule in her pocket rather than taking it.

Alexandrea's great-grandmother, Margaret Jackson, gave her the vitamin Monday night. "If she didn't want it, she should have told me that," Jackson said. "I didn't know she was going to take it school."

On Tuesday, after discovery of the capsule, Alexandrea sat in the school office from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. until her mother could leave work and pick her up.

"I was scared,"  Alexandrea said. "I thought I was in big trouble."