Parents contest expulsion

Parents of a Gulf Breeze High student decided to go completely public last week with details of their son's expulsion by asking for a formal hearing before the school board on the issue. The hearing took just over an hour during the regular school board meeting. School Board attorney Paul Green explained to the audience at the meeting, "This will be an administrative hearing. It is not a judicial criminal hearing. There will be testimony from both sides, and hearsay is permitted. Then the school board will decide if the administration at the high school did the right thing by expelling the student."

Green opened the hearing by saying the parents had requested he disqualify himself from being the monitor of the hearing, even though there is no 'judge' at such a hearing, just the school board members making the final decision. But before he appointed someone else to lead the hearing, the student's father said he had changed his mind and the school attorney could stay as monitor.

During the hearing both sides were allowed to make opening statements, call witnesses, question each other's witnesses, show any evidence to support their claims, and make closing statements. School board members were allowed, after both sides had presented their case, to question anyone involved.

Board members all agreed they had not received any information ahead of time about the case, and Green said they would receive all the information they needed to make a decision during the hearing.

The school administrators and resource officer from Gulf Breeze Police Dept. said that the student's car had been searched the morning of Sept. 6 on the grounds of Gulf Breeze High. Gulf Breeze High Asst. Principal Daniel Brothers said he had received a call from another parent that morning saying he should search the car because he would probably find marijuana in it. He said he asked the resource officer from Gulf Breeze Police Dept. working at the school that day to go with him to do the search. Brothers and the officer reported finding something that they both believed to be marijuana in the floor board of the passenger's side of the car, as well as some marijuana in the passenger's side door and back floor board. The substance was tested at the police lab and allegedly later determined to indeed be marijuana. Brothers said, "It is my job at the school to act on any reasonable suspicion that might affect the safety of other students."

The student's father was the representative for the family questioning the witnesses. He told the board that the report only mentioned the few seeds in the front floor board of the passenger side. The father gave a photo to school board member showing the small amount found.

Board members reminded the parents that Board policy for expulsion of students is zero tolerance on possession or use of any kind of drugs, alcohol or weapons.

The student's father pointed to page 44 of the Student Code of Conduct, which refers to Florida Statute 893 to define what contraband and drugs are for standards of expulsion. He said if they are going to use the state statute as the base for their policy, they should be using the entire statute. He cited that to legally charge someone with possession, if the drug is not found on their body but in a vehicle, then you must show "constructive possession," which means the person must have knowledge of the marijuana being in the car and some control over it being there.

"This vehicle was jointly occupied, since he gives a ride to two students each morning, and the defendant being close to it does not count as constructive possession.... so there are conflicting points of view as to whether the car should have been searched in the first place, since no one said they knew there were drugs in the car," the student's father said. The father said since there was no proof of constructive possession shown, he wanted the school board to dismiss the case and allow his son back into Gulf Breeze High. The school attorney explained that his was not a "criminal prosecution," and the board is "not bound by the same legal statutes as a criminal prosecution would be." He said some of the school board's policies might not be covered under state law, since they are not trying to prosecute any student. All of the statute may not matter in an expulsion case, since the school board had adopted a zero tolerance policy for any drug possession of any kind. The entire state statute would apply to a legal court case, if the student was being charged legally with drug possession.

Asst. Principal Brothers said all students who drive to school must sign a parking permit and have their parents sign it. The parking permit for this student was presented to the board, showing the signature of the boy and his mother. That permit states that if you bring a car to the school grounds, you will be responsible for anything found in the car. Brothers said that the permit also states that if the student and parent sign it and bring a vehicle to school, then the student and parents understand that the school administrators will have the right to search it upon request at any time for any reason. He said this was also in the student code of conduct and the student handbook.

The student's father asked Brothers if he had any proof that his son knew there was pot in the car, and Brothers said, "Only the signed statement from your son saying it was his, after we asked him about it." The student's father said that statement was signed under duress, with no parents or attorney present.

When the father later called his son as a witness and asked him if he knew how the marijuana got into the car that morning, and the son said no, he did not have any idea. The father also asked him if there had been any use of pot in the car that morning, on the way to school, and the boy said absolutely not.

The school administrators said they were not saying whether it was or was not the student's marijuana - just that it was found in his car, and with the signed permit and the student code of conduct, that is grounds for expulsion.

School Board members Ed Gray III of Gulf Breeze and Joan Simpson of Pace had questions. Gray asked the student, "Do you know of anyone at all that might not like you, and might want to plant it in your car, and then make sure a call was made?" The student said no, that he believed no one has access to his car and had no one that he thought would plant it, but that he had absolutely no idea how the marijuana got into the car floorboard.

JoAnn Simpson asked the administrators to read the student code of conduct referring to stature 893 and explain why that part of that statute was being used. It was read and explained that the part of the statute used only outlines what contraband substances are, under state law.

The final recommendation to the school board came from Superintendent John Rogers, who said, "We challenge our administrators and resource officers every day to keep a safe environment in our schools, and it a challenging job to say the least." He recommended the expulsion of the Gulf Breeze High student remain in place, and the school board voted unanimously to not overturn the expulsion.