The amount of attention a story on a pro-marijuana campaign at CVMS has received only corroborates the position of administrators that the incident disrupted the educational environment. We can only imagine what kind of disruption has occurred over the last week as school administrators have been targeted by pro-pot cyber pirates scrolling Google results for "marijuana" and "discipline." Other media outlets have also gotten the ACLU involved.
At this point, we don't know if we should laugh or shudder in horror.
Barring any new evidence to the contrary, The Record-Courier supports the actions of CVMS Principal Robert Been and Superintendent of Schools Lisa Noonan. While we believe all citizens have basic constitutional rights, we entrust our school officials to draw the line between freedom of speech and disruptive behavior. The same way an adult can be cited for speech that threatens the public safety, so can a child be disciplined for speech that threatens the learning environment.
If residents don't like the leadership and policies of the school district, then they can change the structure from the top down in the electoral process, which we just went through. In short, we give our school administrators the benefit of the doubt.
To play devil's advocate for a minute, we can only assume the legalization of marijuana would not apply to middle-schoolers in the first place. The fallacy of the recent protest is the assumption that if pot were legal, the students wouldn't have gotten into trouble. We can't imagine any 14-year-old consuming beer or posting Budweiser signs on campus and then acting surprised when they get called into the principal's office.
If students are really concerned about changing laws, we suggest they study hard, graduate and enter the political arena where they can present their ideas to voters. Of course, we believe the surest way to realize one's political objectives is to have a clear sense of purpose, free from the influence of mind-altering substances.
