Dagga boy wins his case

schumi

schumi

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Durban - A Grade 8 schoolboy who was expelled from his Ballito private school last month for smoking dagga can return to school on Wednesday morning because a Durban High Court judge has ruled that the school did not follow its own rules in disciplining him.

The 15-year-old pupil will be allowed to remain at Ashton College pending a further court application seeking to review and set aside the decision to expel him.

Lawyers for the school argued on Tuesday that, on the evidence at the disciplinary inquiry, there was no doubt that the teenager had smoked dagga and he had twice tested positive for it.

But, in a ruling which will have other schools taking a critical look at their codes of conduct, Acting Judge Cassim Sardiwalla said he did not have to deal with the merits of the matter because the process followed was “flawed”.

In agreeing with submissions by advocate Mahen Manikum, for the pupil, he said the school’s code of conduct stipulated that a disciplinary tribunal had to consist of “members of management or part of management of the school”.

But in this case, the hearing had been conducted by only one person who was said to be “independent” and not part of the school at all.

This meant that the committee was “wrongly constituted” and the decision to expel the pupil had to be set aside.

Further to this was the conceded fact that the principal of the school, Joe Erasmus – who had taken the urine sample and had been a witness at the hearing – had then appointed himself as a one-member appeal tribunal and had rejected the pupil’s appeal.

The judge said these issues warranted an order allowing the pupil to return to school with immediate effect pending the review application which must be launched within 30 days.
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More at http://beta.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/dagga-boy-wins-his-case-1936899
 
If he wasn't smoking on school property, they have no cause to expel him anyway.
 
Xarog said:
If he wasn't smoking on school property, they have no cause to expel him anyway.
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They don't?

I'm pretty sure that if it's in the rules, the school is allowed to expel based on drug tests.

I do not wish to know what the future of this kid will be like.
 
He said the test was conducted after the pupil was pointed out as having been selling “green stuff in plastic bags” at a local market one weekend.
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Idiot. The number one rule is you don't get high off your own supply.
 
Garson007 said:
They don't?

I'm pretty sure that if it's in the rules, the school is allowed to expel based on drug tests.

I do not wish to know what the future of this kid will be like.
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Oh hai ignorance ...... basing his future solely off him smoking weed is pure ignorance.
 
Garson007 said:
They don't?

I'm pretty sure that if it's in the rules, the school is allowed to expel based on drug tests.

I do not wish to know what the future of this kid will be like.
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Smoking at such a young age is stupid, no doubt. But the point is that the child has a right to an education, and unless he does something to the school that screws with its ability to educate others, they simply don't have a reasonable basis to censure him.

Expecting children to be drug free and mandating an education policy based upon that is just stupid. It's no different from expelling a female pupil because she got pregnant.
 
not only a user but a seller also? and most likely to minors at that. can only imagine the household he was brought up in. the lot of them should be fixed.
 
Journalists need to start learning how to spell 'marijuana' and stop using street talk like 'dagga'
 
D3x! said:
no, sorry have I offended you obviously being a pot smoker yourself?
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Not at all. It's just that your use of the word "also" means that one can only infer you were agreeing with Mephisto Helix's description of you when he used that image to refer to you. Now you say it also reminds you of pot smokers, so 1+1= ?
 
Xarog said:
Not at all. It's just that your use of the word "also" means that one can only infer you were agreeing with Mephisto Helix's description of you when he used that image to refer to you. Now you say it also reminds you of pot smokers, so 1+1= ?
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apologies your mind must be degraded from pot use, you clearly misunderstand.

move along troll, onwards with the thread.
 
Xarog said:
Smoking at such a young age is stupid, no doubt. But the point is that the child has a right to an education, and unless he does something to the school that screws with its ability to educate others, they simply don't have a reasonable basis to censure him.

Expecting children to be drug free and mandating an education policy based upon that is just stupid. It's no different from expelling a female pupil because she got pregnant.
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Most private schools have a random drug testing policy that parents and pupils sign before admission. I would be really surprised if this school didn't. It seems the court ruling in any case wasn't about whether the schools drug policy is right or wrong, but more about whether proper procedure was followed in expelling the kid.
I've got no problem with adults making decisions about what they want to put into / do with their bodies, but the random drug testing of minors (with consequence for testing positive) is a great way to provide them with an excuse from peer pressure.
Cigarettes and booze have a minimum age limit of 18 for gods sakes , and this kid is only 15.
 
McSack said:
Most private schools have a random drug testing policy that parents and pupils sign before admission. I would be really surprised if this school didn't. It seems the court ruling in any case wasn't about whether the schools drug policy is right or wrong, but more about whether proper procedure was followed in expelling the kid.
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Sure, I'm not disputing that. But what is legal isn't neccessarily what is just.

I've got no problem with adults making decisions about what they want to put into / do with their bodies, but the random drug testing of minors (with consequence for testing positive) is a great way to provide them with an excuse from peer pressure.
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Not if the testing excludes the child from an education when caught. What's next, the death penalty for underage sex?

Cigarettes and booze have a minimum age limit of 18 for gods sakes , and this kid is only 15.
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Irrelevant, unless you deny that a child has a basic human right to an education.
 
McSack said:
Most private schools have a random drug testing policy that parents and pupils sign before admission. I would be really surprised if this school didn't. It seems the court ruling in any case wasn't about whether the schools drug policy is right or wrong, but more about whether proper procedure was followed in expelling the kid.
I've got no problem with adults making decisions about what they want to put into / do with their bodies, but the random drug testing of minors (with consequence for testing positive) is a great way to provide them with an excuse from peer pressure.
Cigarettes and booze have a minimum age limit of 18 for gods sakes , and this kid is only 15.
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and selling at that!

totally agree.
 
Xarog said:
Sure, I'm not disputing that. But what is legal isn't neccessarily what is just.


Not if the testing excludes the child from an education when caught. What's next, the death penalty for underage sex?


Irrelevant, unless you deny that a child has a basic human right to an education.
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really, you drug users use every avenue to push the what is illegal isn't just avenue. next you will be telling us you should be allowed to smoke weed because the by product this and that...

this isn't even a debate about what is just, this is a minor, selling drugs, using them with a developing brain.

hopefully next is the death penalty for drug dealing.
 
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