Sharpie boy, 8, suspended

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 10:05 a.m., April 4, 2008
Updated 01:50 p.m., April 4, 2008

In hindsight, the Harris Park Elementary School principal might've toned down the three-day suspension originally given to an 8-year-old sniffing the fumes from a Sharpie marker.

"Would he have made the same decision again?" asked Adams School District 50 spokeswoman Deb Haviland. "He might rethink it and instead use it as a teachable moment."

Ethan Harris saw the suspension for the incident last week dropped from three days to one day. Principal Chris Benisch said the suspension was leveled because the boy repeatedly kept sniffing the clothing upon which he'd stained with the black marker.

Haviland said Benisch has been the principal at the school for about a year-and-a-half and previously had been an assistant principal at a middle school. She said he was just concerned about the safety of the student and didn't want to see it escalate.

"I think he comes from it being a middle school principal and has seen some of these kinds of issues," she said. "And seeing it at the elementary school level situation, he wanted to be sure the students are safe before it got to another level."

According to the Associated Press, the student's father, John Harris, said school officials assumed the boy was "huffing" or inhaling dangerous fumes from the marker during a writing class at the Westminster-based campus.

Haviland said the marker was "enormous" and that, while the district doesn't have a policy on the kinds of writing instruments students can bring to school, the incident may have them revisit the current guidelines.

She also said with the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign scheduled for next week, it will be a time to reinforce to students to avoid harmful behaviors.

• April 4, 2008

  10:18 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Spencer writes:

  What about eating paste? That leads to crack

• April 4, 2008

  10:29 a.m.

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  Cwillyrun1 writes:

  So much for telling parents about it and letting them handle discipling their kids. Since the kid's 8 years old, does he even know what he's sniffing?

• April 4, 2008

  10:31 a.m.

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  Gene writes:

  Don't kids build models with Testors Hot Fuel-Proof Dope anymore?

• April 4, 2008

  10:31 a.m.

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  tellmenow41 writes:

  The real action is with the "Magnum" markers, those are the best bang for the buck. They're focusing on the wrong guy here, he's a small timer. They should focus on the 10 year-olds huffin those magnum markers, that'll put you in a daze...

  errr. come on RMNews!!! Kids getting suspended for huffing markers!!! you gotta be kidding me.

• April 4, 2008

  10:32 a.m.

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  BroncoRick69 writes:

  Ha. It was watercolor markers. I'm pretty sure they don't contain anything that would get you high anyway.

• April 4, 2008

  10:36 a.m.

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  OhBrother writes:

  why don't you guys put together a list of all the kids who get suspended everyday for our review and comments. Great story

• April 4, 2008

  10:41 a.m.

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  tellmenow41 writes:

  Reading/Commenting on this article to me... well it can only be described as wiping myself with used toilet paper; I accomplished nothing and just feel dirty.

• April 4, 2008

  10:49 a.m.

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  mommadel writes:

  Good Grief! I wonder if that's what's wrong with all the g'parents and parents out there who use to LOVE it when the mimeograph papers were passed out! Ahhh, I can still smell them...did I miss something? Anyway, don't you think the "authorities" are carrying things just a bit too far in this modern age? If you want to pull the markers, then pull the markers but for crying out loud, don't suspend an 8 year old. He's just doing what we did and I, for one, am as normal as they come...me? I'm 63 and never have smoked pot, or done any drugs so smelling...oh and eating that wonderful paste as a kid, didn't hurt me!

• April 4, 2008

  10:49 a.m.

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  Earl writes:

  how dare an eight year old kid keep sniffing a scented marker afer 'being told to quit' what kind of a brat eight year old is he. I bet the teacher wanted to bi**h slap him for not listening. those rotten 8 year olds!!!!!!!

• April 4, 2008

  11:06 a.m.

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  forwhatitis writes:

  I totally agree with most of the sarcasm in these posts, but also know that it is more likely that a parent would sue the school district if they found out the teacher was letting the kids sniff the markers. So, IMO, teachers and principals are damned if they do, damned if they don't anymore.

• April 4, 2008

  11:06 a.m.

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  FlyfishDude52 writes:

  Do sharpies work like cigars as sex toys? Somebody should be impeached!

• April 4, 2008

  11:30 a.m.

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  blondiearvada writes:

  I doubt a parent would sue the school district for "letting" a kid sniff the markers. They didn't "let" him, he just did it, and yes, they smell great!! The teachers sniff them when the kids are all at lunch anyway.

• April 4, 2008

  11:31 a.m.

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  Bing987 writes:

  I think that the teacher should be fired for supplying these kids with dangerous drugs.

• April 4, 2008

  11:47 a.m.

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  RJS07 writes:

  I'm pretty sure we should ban sharpie markers to those under the age of 21. Problem easily solved.

• April 4, 2008

  11:56 a.m.

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  The_Punnisher writes:

  The only DOPE problem I see here is with the school faculty and administrators....

• April 4, 2008

  12:04 p.m.

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  blacksho89 writes:

  We have taught our children that it is OK to do drugs. Last week, another community (Erie) voted to put toxic fluoride in the drinking water. What do we expect them to do? Children learn as they live.

• April 4, 2008

  12:06 p.m.

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  redwhiteandBLUE writes:

  The punnisher,
  AGREED!

• April 4, 2008

  12:19 p.m.

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  frontpage writes:

  Another classic case of a school administrator who can't think themselves out of a paper bag. Its this insane "zero tolerance" some goof adminstrator with a doctorate level education came up with a few years back. The Results are the power of the word "zero tolerance" and the inability to articulate and provide adequete definition for faculty and school staff to implement. It has these people right up there with the TSA (see nipple rings)fiasco last week.

• April 4, 2008

  12:47 p.m.

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  LOUIE writes:

  Today, if we popped a random drug test on all educators intrusted to our children, how many would fail? How many teachers are going to molest our children next year? Out of all the professions the only one that has never been charged with child molestation is Godfathers of America's organized crime families, why is that? My child would be safer with John Gotti, probably smarter too, than left alone with a man of God.

• April 4, 2008

  12:50 p.m.

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  Brain writes:

  We as parents have allowed the school to parent; this is just another example. We need vouchers so the parent that wants to be a parent can get their child in the school that fits what they want!

• April 4, 2008

  12:53 p.m.

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  psu96 writes:

  I am not against vouchers but your reasoning misses the mark.

• April 4, 2008

  12:55 p.m.

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  Raemid writes:

  Sniffing black marks on your shirt leads to significantly decreased brain function. And the effects are apparently lifelong. The Principal here should know. I'm sure he's judging from personal experience. His excuse for operating on only half a brain is probably that he sniffed a black mark as a kid. His moms was a pusher - writing his name in his underwear.

  This is your brain. This is your brain on sniffing a Sharpie mark: Westminster School Principal.

• April 4, 2008

  1:08 p.m.

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  r0rr writes:

  let's look at the root cause of the problem here. it has nothing to do with a sharpie, but everything to do with a child that would not do what the teacher told him/her to do. the child should have been suspended for disobedient and disrespectful behavior! it's frustrating to read all of these comments where individuals support the actions of the child/parents. how can we expect teachers to teach if they constantly must deal with children who will not obey, thus disrupting the entire class.....

• April 4, 2008

  1:17 p.m.

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  ezekiel777 writes:

  this is extreme.... an 8 year old wrongly accused of using drugs....

  ...the school did more damage to him than the Sharpie...

• April 4, 2008

  1:35 p.m.

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  Michael writes:

  Brings back fond memories (circa 1964) of sniffing the freshly minted mimeo sheets that the nuns just ran in the office for our pop quizz on American History. ummmmmmm....now that was some fine sniffing!!!

• April 4, 2008

  1:36 p.m.

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  blondiearvada writes:

  r0rr then the marker should have been taken away from the child. Not SUSPENDED from school. That is the point all of us are trying to make. This action can be tolerated more so that a child doing drugs at school, beating up other kids, things are really untolderated. He smelled a marker for crying out load.

• April 4, 2008

  1:58 p.m.

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  Darling writes:

  I'm with mommadel on the mimeograph copies. LOVED 'EM!

• April 4, 2008

  1:59 p.m.

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  Logic1 writes:

  Everybody should read frontpages post again. It has wisdom about this issue. Our schools as well as our society have lost touch with reality. Good kids sometimes do bad things, this is when they need to be taught. Overboard punishment might just make them a bad kid. We try and treat everyone equal. But equal is always fair, and fair isn't always equal.

• April 4, 2008

  2:06 p.m.

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  RickyLee writes:

  hey, hey,now.....

  that kid, in the future, will be "just trying to feed his family", so why not charge him(as an adult) with "agricultural tresspass"?

• April 4, 2008

  2:22 p.m.

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  r0rr writes:

  blondiearvada, i don't think either of us can really determine whether or not the punishment met the crime because nobody on this forum has all of the details of the situation. for all i know this child is a habitual disciplinary case. on the other hand, if the teacher perceived that that student's actions were somehow endangering the student and the student disobeyed the teacher's instructions, then i'll take my place alongside the teacher/principal.

  however, i'll go back to my original premise - we wouldn't be having this discussion if the child would have simply obeyed the teacher's instructions.

• April 4, 2008

  2:28 p.m.

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  tpiland writes:

  This is the most ridiculous thing I have EVER heard. The kid is eight for the love of Pete!!! I doubt he had an inkling (HAHAAHAHAHA) what he was sniffing!

• April 4, 2008

  2:33 p.m.

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  Heidi writes:

  Those mimeographs were awesome! I sometimes purposely caused my own detention so I could help make copies.

• April 4, 2008

  2:47 p.m.

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  MissSio writes:

  tpiland, the thing is that being 8 when we were 8 and being 8 now are completely different. 8 year olds now have cell phones, their own computers, their own tvs with game systems and lots of internet access. Mostly gone are the days where 8 year olds spend their free time running around outside playing games they made up in their heads... When I saw the 8 year old boys on their cellphones talking to their friends about WoW, I figured the definition of childhood might be changing.

  And when I saw 13 year old girls expertly modifying a pop can into pipe for pot, I knew that the definition of childhood had changed. When 3 kids who LOOKED 17 or 18 asked me for a cigarette and told me they were 11, 12, and 14 respectively, I got really sad. I remember being 12, and I certainly wasn't asking complete strangers on the lightrail for a cigarette. (dressed like a sluttier hannah montana at that)

  While the principal overreacted a wee bit, it was really only a wee bit. These days you have to be really careful, childhood isn't as ideal and innocent as it used to be. I believe I saw he was a middle school principal previously, it's any wonder he got worried.

• April 4, 2008

  2:57 p.m.

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  Heidi writes:

  Teachers....they're damned if they do, and they're damned if they don't. I am certainly glad I didn't choose that profession.

• April 4, 2008

  3:13 p.m.

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  nonayerbsns writes:

  Yeah, sniffin things can be bad. As evidence: the dippy-doodle appearance of every mom as she smells the top of her baby's head.

• April 4, 2008

  3:20 p.m.

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  The_Punnisher writes:

  " UMM Mimeographs. Such a pretty blue. Glad to see I'm not the only old timer here. "

  You young punks got it easy. We had to use STENCILS....

  *****

  Remember Sonny Bono and the " Don't Do Drugs " Gubbernment scare film?

  That film & " Reefer Madness " were what started people on the " killer weed " path. How many got their start by exposure to those " training films "?

  " Just SCARE the little s**ts..That will set them on the right path "

• April 4, 2008

  4:03 p.m.

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  Domino writes:

  Classroom overcrowding has made discipline harder for the classroom teacher.

  Let's say one of seven students act up. If there are less than twenty children in a classroom, then you may have a manageable two disruptors. A teacher can work with one or two students and still control the class. If there are thirty, then there may be four problem students, which limits the chances of maintaining order and increases the chances of losing control of the class. If that happens then sometimes the only solution is to get the child out of the classroom and that may be beyond making them sit in the hallway for a couple of minutes.

  It is not a matter of the loss of respect, but a matter of losing to numbers. Limit the student/teacher ratio and you limit the problem for good teachers.

• April 4, 2008

  4:48 p.m.

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  Gene writes:

  I doesn't take much with these wimpy kids nowadays; Sharpies don't even smell. Building model airplanes in the old days with Testors Hot-Fuel-Proof Dope was something else. Then more recently, rendering plans in the design office with toxic AD markers was memorable.

• April 4, 2008

  4:50 p.m.

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  primafacie writes:

  If it wasn't for Magic Markers, mimeographs and glue pots, I'd have never gotten through school and reached the social position I have today ... staring at my computer.

• April 4, 2008

  5:04 p.m.

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  fntsymtn writes:

  I had to double-check the date on this story to make sure it wasn't a double print from Tuesday ... sigh, it's real.

  I didn't catch anywhere in the article that the "offender" was ever asked or told not to sniff the marks he was making on his clothes ... only that he was suspended after repeatedly doing it. I suppose one can assume that the teacher and student had dialog about not sniffing the fumes, but it's definitely not stated in the article.
  
  Yes, the school has a potential liability if the student were to injure himself from sniffing the fumes, but it seems reasonable that a conversation with the student and his parents would have best served everyone in this case.

  Our educators and their administrators really should exercise some judgment and intelligence when considering disciplinary actions and should always involve parents when discipline is deemed necessary. If they get "buy-in" from the parents regarding the disciplinary action, they reduce their liability.

  Hopefully, it's a lesson learned for all involved and we'll not be hearing of any further incidents involving students and marker sniffing.

• April 4, 2008

  5:23 p.m.

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  bassman writes:

  I'm a substitute teacher and had kids sniffing markers in class this year. I told them to stop and they complied. I'm sure the teacher asked the kid to stop several times before he was sent to the office. Find a different shirt in the lost and found and put the kid back in class 15 minutes later. If this has been a long standing problem don't allow the kid the privilege of using markers anymore. Call the parewnts if you absolutely have to but, a 3 day suspension is absolutely draconian.

• April 4, 2008

  5:25 p.m.

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  suz writes:

  Isn't that the problem? We (US) ban everything and that's why we go after it! Canada-legal age 18, France-18 and under, Amsterdam-whatever baby. The more you take away, the more they want. If we just place the education in plain view (rather than planning to put it in plain view)....the problems trickle away...at least a little. Geez, this is just unreal. It's quite frightening having children now-a-days. Parents seriously have to step up. What we have to ask ourselves is, "what would the pioneers do."

• April 4, 2008

  8:29 p.m.

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  Sweetpickle writes:

  Thank goodness mimeograph machines are gone. The DEA must have gotten them.

• April 4, 2008

  9:20 p.m.

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  nonayerbsns writes:

  I JUST NOTICED THIS WASN'T IN BOULDER. ACCORDING TO SO MANY POSTERS ON RMN, STUPID CRAP ONLY HAPPENS THERE. GUESS THEY ARE PROVEN WRONG... AGAIN!

  :-)

• April 4, 2008

  9:46 p.m.

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  natasha writes:

  This principal is a moron!!! He was at Shaw Heights when they banned political clothing with the flag, military, camo. etc. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

• April 4, 2008

  10:56 p.m.

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  suburbdweller writes:

  Poor kid. It'll be a few years at least before he'll be able to understand what he supposedly did wrong to deserve all this. Mr. Benisch clearly has authority issues that are affecting his judgement, and probably shouldn't be the principal of an elementary school.

  On a larger note, though, is it just me, or are there a lot of signs in the news this week pointing to a rapid descent of our society into a police state?

  Cases in point: TSA's recent treatment of a nipple ring-wearing passenger, the impending installation of Big Brother cameras in Denver, and now punishment for an 8 year old for, uh, smelling something.

  I think it's time to vote for every Libertarian Part candidate you see on the next ballot to slow this whole police-state thing down.

• April 5, 2008

  1:49 a.m.

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  ham writes:

  This is absolutely asinine. The world has gone mad.

• April 7, 2008

  6:43 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ImDaMailinator writes:

  Since it seems that a lot of people have a problem with what the principal did, perhaps you could ask him for a further explanation. You can reach him here:

  Christopher Benischwork
  4476 W 68th Ave
  Westminster, CO 80030-5856
  (303) 428-3511
  Job title: Principal
  Company: Adams Cnty School Dist 50