Discipline Decided In Student Inhaler Incident

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas -- A meeting was held Friday for a student accused of breaking school rules and state law by giving his girlfriend his inhaler when she had trouble breathing, News2Houston reported.

Andra Ferguson and her boyfriend, Brandon Kivi, both 15, use the same type of asthma medicine, Albuterol Inhalation Aerosol.

Ferguson said she forgot to bring her medication to their school, Caney Creek High School, 16840 FM 2090, on Sept. 24. When she had trouble breathing, she went to the nurse's office.

Out of concern, Kivi let her use his inhaler.

But the school nurse said it was a violation of the district's no-tolerance drug policy, and reported Kivi to the campus police. He was suspended for three days and charged with delivering a dangerous drug. He faced expulsion and being sent to juvenile detention on juvenile drug charges.

My girlfriend and I both have asthma. We both use the same medication. We're 15 and have been using these inhalers for many years. We are trusted to self medicate by our parents, physicians and our school. She's having an asthma attack and has forgotten her inhaler. I have mine on me. There is exactly zero chance that the nurse has an albuterol inhaler. Even if the nurse had access to an albuterol inhaler there is zero chance she would administer a prescription drug to my girlfriend (who is currently having an asthma attack) as she is a nurse and is prevented by law from doing so.

I can:

A) Say "Sorry, Babe. Shit happens. You'll come around in 15 minutes to 3 hours or get whisked away to the Emergency Room if the attack gets too serious. Guess you won't be forgetting your inhaler any more, will you?"

B) Let her use my inhaler.

On Friday, school officials decided to expel Kivi but not press criminal charges. They said it was an amicable agreement.

"I'm happy. Everything's final," Kivi said. "I'm expelled 'til after Christmas and I can come back after Christmas, but I won't."

amicable - am·i·ca·ble: characterized by friendly goodwill

Why do I sense a serious lack of friendly goodwill here?

Boardmember: We're expelling you but only for a little while, which is actually a suspension but we're going to call it expelling since that sounds much worse. But you can come back to school in 2 months where you'll be hopelessly behind on all of your schoolwork as well as in an impossible position to actually pass any of your classes since you'll be missing so many tests and required assignments. How does that sound?

Kivi: It sounds like you have a severe case of cranial rectal infarction.

Boardmember: But we aren't pressing criminal charges. Isn't that nice?

Kivi: Of course you aren't pressing charges, you dipshit. Do you realize just how many lawyers would die to grab my defense as a pro bono case? This is a freaking judicial slam dunk. You're holding a whoop-ass grenade and I've got the pin.

Boardmember: Can't we be amicable?

Kivi: Go fuck yourself.

Ferguson said Kivi possibly saved her life and should never have been punished.

"I still think he did the right thing 'cause he was just doing good and he did the right thing," Ferguson said.

Absolutely no administration of life saving drugs is permissible! School is there to regulate and stifle you, not to save your worthless life!

Conroe Independent School District officials released the following statement. "Texas school districts are required by law to expel students who commit certain offenses. Delivery of a dangerous drug is one of those offenses."

dangerous - dan·ger·ous: able or likely to inflict injury or harm

albuterol - used to treat bronchospasm (wheezing, shortness of breath) associated with reversible obstructive airway disease such as asthma.

Ferguson was not disciplined over the incident.

Aparently there is nothing wrong with receiving a dangerous drug or using said drug on the school grounds.

Both Kivi and Ferguson decided to withdraw from Caney Creek High School to be home-schooled.

Ferguson: And a fuck you from me, too.

Question: Why do you never, ever, hear about one of these asinine zero-tolerance policy kerfuffles from an urban school system? It is always a predominantly white, middle class school system.

(Hat tip to Jim Taranto)