A student who failed to get his cough drops cleared with the junior high school was suspended for three days under its anti-drug policy.
The zinc lozenge handed out last week by Colin Dunlap to a classmate was a dirty white pill with granules on it, said Forest Mann, principal of DuPont Junior High School. A student with a clearly identified Hall's cough drop would not have been suspended, he said."We shouldn't and don't have to determine if this was a narcotic," Mann said.
Colin's suspension began Wednesday.
"Had my son given another child Tylenol or something of that nature that I feel is potentially harmful, then I would be concerned," said his mother, Jennifer Dunlap. "But a cough drop? I think that's the most asinine thing I've ever heard."
Attorneys for the school 10 miles south of Charleston said all medication must be taken to a school office in original packaging if a student wishes to consume it.
"There has to be zero tolerance for kids not following the procedures in our attempts to protect them from something harmful," Mann said.