Below is the official press release from the Newport-Mesa School District regarding the story posted yesterday about the elementary school boy suspended from school for having kombucha tea in his lunchbox which school administration deemed with no testing or due diligence to violate the district’s drug and alcohol policy.
It appears that the school must fear the legal ramifications of their over the top reaction as they are spinning the story already.
The statement insists that the child was not suspended and no disciplinary action was taken.
You call keeping a child in the school office for the entire day, interrogating him about where/when he obtained this “illegal” beverage, telling him he may have to transfer to another school, attempting to sign him up for a youth alcoholics program and then having him sign a 5 day suspension notice “no disciplinary action?”
Revoking the suspension does NOT mean the suspension and interrogation somehow never happened! And, Police Officers in uniform (per a statement from the child’s mother who had another meeting yesterday – this time with the Principal) were called into the office to assist with the child’s possibly illegal interrogation since the child was questioned about any medicines he was taking etc and there was no attorney or parent/guardian present. Whether or not the officers were already on campus is immaterial.
I do hope the parents consider legal action to be played out in a court of law. A very strong possibility exists that their rights and that of their son were horribly violated and doing nothing just ensures that this type of abuse will continue.
Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Statement Re: Alleged Action of Suspension for Possession of Kombucha Tea Drink
For Immediate Release: Friday, October 12, 2012
Newport-Mesa Unified would like to respond to a recent article posted in The Healthy Home Economist titled, “Child Suspended from School for Kombucha in Lunchbox.”
No disciplinary action was taken and the student was not suspended. The parents of the involved student met with the school principal to discuss and resolve any issues that resulted from Wednesday’s incident.
The issue resulted from the student being in possession of a beverage called, Kombucha, a tea, which states on its label that it contains 0.05 percent alcohol. The substance came to the attention of school officials through other students who reported that a student had alcohol. Having a substance on campus containing any level of alcoholic content is a violation according to District policy.
The article also references police involvement. The Newport Beach Police Department provides two full- time School Resource Officers who work with our Newport Beach and Corona del Mar campuses. Police were not called in specifically for this incident. The SRO was already on campus and participated in a routine discovery process. All this being said, the incident itself and the perception of how it was handled is something the District is committed to correcting. School districts implement policies and procedures to ensure consistency of practice. For most circumstances, the practices work. However, this was a new situation.
Seeing the need to review some of the practices regarding policies and procedures regarding discipline, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education has requested the Superintendent to research programs that would emphasize a more nurturing approach to the discovery process and avoid overly aggressive practices when dealing with the discipline process.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Greetings Friends!
I wish I had a couple hours to respond to everything presented on this ‘case’ as I believe it merits it. Firstly, I am really sorry that the child was confronted to the extent reported. It seems most all of us agree that the school was (at the very least” “unprepared” and possibly over zealous in attempting to follow their own policies. I think this incident deserves a people’s investigation. I wonder whether the school serves food. (Some schools do and some of those have been transformed via an upgraded lunch program). There are several things that I could suggest along the lines of working within this system.
Aside from this one incident, I wonder how happy the mother is having her child in the school. Only she can say. My own personal response would be to remove the child and in a way that it would be a real positive graduation for him! The kombucha is just a “smidget” of possibly a whole lifestyle that is simply several steps beyond the consciousness of the government-controlled public school system. It’s the mother’s child and therefore it’s her choice but before i were to “commit”,myself down any particular course of action I’d want to know the truth of how she feels about having her child in this “institution”. I can’t imagine that she is really really happy about that Therefore my empathy extends to her as well.
not to condone the irrational behavior of the school district and the powers that be, it sounds like to me that this was more a case of teenagers idle mouths getting out of hand and the school officials being caught off guard.
We “Real Foodies” are very familiar with what Kombucha Tea is and how it works. We are very comfortable throwing around the term “fermented” and we know what it means. But, the larger majority of the population just hears “fermentation” and sees an alcohol content label, and they think “moonshine”, not “healthy probiotic drink”. Just think of all of the shenanigans the government put all of those commercial kombucha companies through back in 2010 when they made them reformulate their brews so there wouldn’t be any “alcohol” in them and, if they didn’t reformulate they had to re-lable them and in some states they have to sell their Kombucha in the alcohol section of the store….it’s rediculous yes, but people are ill educated. Then add on top of that teenagers who gossip and blow things out of proportion and who knows what all else and you have yourself a recipe for disaster. Perhaps one day the world will see the truth about Real Food and people will get educated. Until then, we’re going to be misunderstood and probably put through a whole load of crap. The price we pay for truth… 🙁
Oh yeah, and by teenager, I meant elementary student (which one was it?)…either way…children and their mouths…
First of all I can’t begin to fathom why you would feel the need to place a glass container with Kombucha in the lunch box to begin with. Just transfer the beverage to something else and the nosy cops won’t be any the wiser. Of course their over reaction is ridiculous over such a trivial if not meaningless amount of alcohol. Don’t give them any excuses to make life more difficult than they already do for you. My wife is native Japanese and she can’t even imagine where in the world they get the idea there is any alcohol in there at all. It’s absurd.
It appears that it was store bought and not made at home as the article states “The issue resulted from the student being in possession of a beverage called, Kombucha, a tea, which states on its label that it contains 0.05 percent alcohol. The substance came to the attention of school officials through other students who reported that a student had alcohol.” The school district reacted to the word alcohol and didn’t bother to find out what Kombucha tea was.
There is another discrepency between the school statement and the original blog post. Which was it, another child noticing the alcohol content on the label or “the food police” noticing a glass bottle in the child’s lunch?
I find the older I get common sense isn’t so common.This reminds me time and again of the republicans,who can’t find a problem so they create one and then offer to fix it for a fee.
Sorry Bry Guy, but I have to add to your statement. The republicans AND the democrats. The two parties are one in the same, and neither one lives to serve the people, only themselves and their special interests.
Holding a Kid in a room for 6 hrs was the right thing to do for a bottle of vitamins… in a communist country we live in. Im surprised they didnt tazzer the kid?
yup i agree i am suprised they didnt peppered sprayed him and tazed him ! lololol the nazis would be so proud to look at what this country has come too……..ohh wait THEY ARE!
nuff said
First off thefarnz the school should have contacted the parent for any and all discussions involving the child. Interrogating a child and detaining him, yes keeping him in an office while drilling him with personal questions is detaining, can not be done without a parent. Had a police department taken the child to their offices people would be in uproar and its okay because it was at a school? Public entities including the schools need to follow due process and drilling an elementary student is not proper and I’m sure they are fearing a law suit and that is why they are trying quickly to cover it up.
School needs a hit in the pocket book or they won’t learn it’s not okay to do this.
Derek, you nailed it! I would rest easy if you were watching the kids!
Having 4 kids and degree in law enforcement can make me passionate over things like this. The school only messed up after detaining the child, not with the confiscation. Hopefully we are kept up on this story.
I expect that cough syrup has a much higher alcohol content, yet I have no doubt that the school nurse would have no qualms whatsoever spooning out that poison to children. Never mind handing out Ritalin like candy…. a mind altering drug.
And even though the police was already there (which I think is terrible to begin with… but of course, schools are nothing but prisons for kids, anyway), they don’t ‘just show up’ in the office without being called by the principal. Meaning, yes, he called the police in.
I believe the native Indians would say this principal is speaking with a ‘forked tongue’, as in being a sly snake.
As someone who works in school, I just need to point out that we absolutely *cannot* spoon out cough syrup or pass out any medicine. Kids cannot even have Ibuprofen at school without a Dr.’s note. Even if the parent says it’s ok for the kid to have a cough drop, they can’t take it at school without a Doc’s note, and even then, they can only be taken in the nurse’s office. And we certainly can’t prescribe Ritalin. Ritalin is what happens when parents take their kids to a psychiatrist. Teachers and school nurses cannot even suggest to parents that a child be tested for ADHD; that is illegal.
I understand your vituperous feelings about schools given this article, but contrary to popular belief, we cannot medicate children. That’s the parents’ decision.
“Teachers and school nurses cannot even suggest to parents that a child be tested for ADHD; that is illegal.”
This has not been my experience at all. I have a nephew who goes to public school and it was suggested to his parents to have him tested. Also because he still occasionally has ‘accidents’ they made him see a psychiatrist, forced doctors visits repeatedly with the threat of involving DCF. You are right teachers and any other non-medical staff members cannot give meds outside of the nurses office but they aren’t powerless.
“Teachers and school nurses cannot even suggest to parents that a child be tested for ADHD; that is illegal.” That, my friend, is a load of bull. When our youngest son was in the third grade (back in the early 1990’s) the teacher disliked him. She told my husband and I to our faces that she disliked him because he was “too polite”. Honestly, that’s what she told us. We were astonished but never said a word to her about it after that initial visit – and then we only said “oh, well, uh, der, uh . . ” we couldn’t find words to express our concern for her mindless observation and for disliking him on that basis. Nevertheless, she twice recommended to the school administration that we have him taken to the MD doctor – once for what she called hyperactivity/ADHD (which our family doctor said was ridiculous) and then the second time for a diabetes check because she said he asked to go to the bathroom in the morning and in the afternoon every single day. Well, yes, he probably did – – – we encouraged all of our children to drink a lot of our home purified water and always sent water with them. Our family doctor checked, of course, and he wasn’t even borderline diabetic, so when he asked us what the impetus was for us to get him checked, we told him the teacher recommended it and told him the the rest of the story. He eventually called the school and I know he had words with someone because we weren’t bothered again and they practically fell over themselves to be “nice” to us.
So, yes, teachers most certainly can and do suggest these things, and no it’s not illegal. I wish it were. More kids would be saved from the “psycho psychiatric system” in place in today’s modern world if this WERE illegal. Once a kid sees a psychiatrist, you know they’re going to put them on a pill – it’s what they DO. Most of those creatures are far more whacked out than the kids they see.
When my sister was in Grade 1, her teacher told my mother at the first parent-teacher interview, that she wanted my sister to get a prescription for Ritalin, and BOASTED about how proud she was that she had already gotten 3 other 1st graders that year to go and get a prescription for it. At least where I’m from, i’ve never heard that it is illegal for teachers to recommend that. This teacher also told my mother that she couldn’t possibly take time to teach my sister how to read, because other kids in the class were already at a 3rd grade reading level, and how could she possibly take time away from their development. You’re paid to teach dang it, so teach all the kids and stop trying to hock prescription drugs already.
Thank you, at least someones said it! Its crazy, I graduated high school in 2006 and I am flabbergasted at what grade school has turned into! They have a psychologist (counselor) at every elementary school, middle school and so on……turning the schools into drug factories…….any kid that has a personality or has an imagination or doesnt want to be indoctrinated into the mind dumbing non education gets “diagnosed” with ADHD, ADD, or any of the other FAKE BULL**** MENTAL DISORDERS! And put them of Ritalin WHICH IS BASICALLY METH (THE CORE INGREDIENT IS AMPHETAMINES IN RITALIN AND METH) TO KIDS AS YOUNG AS 6, 7, 8 HOW DO YOU THINK THAT KIDS NOT EVEN DEVELOPED BRAIN IS GOING TO REACT TO THIS EXTREMELY POWERFUL DRUG? Or Adderall which is one element off of cocaine? They have been drugging our kids with these TOTALLY fictitious mental “diseases” ADHD, ADD and so on by putting psychologists aka counselors in schools and if a kid is being a kid they put them on some mind altering drug which totally wrecks havoc on the developing brain!
BUT THATS ALL OK YOU KNOW! BUT WHAT ISNT AND CANT BE TOLERATED IS KIDS DRINKING TEA! PERIOD! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOL LMFAO
School counselors are not psychologists. And psychologists do not prescribe medications. That’s the job of a psychiatrist (M.D.). School psychologists do testing to determine if accommodations need to be made for students in their classes or with testing. I know an elementary school counselor pretty well, since I’m married to him. He does a great job of giving the kids who have screwed up homes/lives a safe place to deal with their uncontrollable emotions when they can’t function in class or with others. Mostly they just play in the sand trays and get control of their emotions. He never recommends meds. Although he’s mentioned some teachers he’s not fond of who tend to do that, even though they’re not supposed to be doing it. When he’s asked he usually says they don’t know what they’re talking about 😉 He gets to deal with strung out parents or parents who party all night and can’t get their kids onto the buses in the morning. I send raw milk and water kefir to school with my boys. Oh, and they’re not vaccinated 🙂 I’m not sure it’s fair to paint every school, teacher, or administrator with the same brush of control and subjugation.
It seems to me that the school did the right thing…in the end. Considering all the shenanigans that have occurred in our schools of late, being prudent and responsive is NOT a bad thing. In the end, they are committed to addressing these kinds of issues correctly. Now the question is…would they have been so quick to correct the issue if not for the healthyhomeeconomist??
I can’t understand how you can say the school did the write thing. Would your opinion be the same if your child was the topic of this article? I understand being prudent and cautious to ensure the safety of all the children in the school, but if everything that Sara describes happened to this child it was totally uncalled for, especially in the absence of the child’s parents. With an elementary aged child especially, calling the parents should have been the first action taken. It’s scary how accepting people are of situations like this. But that’s probably only until something similar happens to you or a loved one.
She said right thing IN THE END. Please read thoroughly before you slam someone.
You don’t shoot first and say you’re sorry after! Wake up ‘thefarnz’, you and your like, who always side with these Nazi arseholes, are the very reason they keep getting away with these over-reaching senseless actions!! ….and do not even try to play the “safety” card that all you morons try to use as an excuse to rape our rights!
right on john
The school did the RIGHT THING? How is their approach in ANY WAY “prudent”? They came on like the Gestapo, and terrorized this kid, for no good reason whatsoever. The only people who could defend this approach would be those who would do the same thing to another child. Hmmmm….
Not to attack thefarnz, here’s an idea of the intensity of what this family is going through – we endured a similar situation,in 9th grade, not long after Columbine, a school employee – I never knew who, found a note they considered threatening to another student, my son was wrongly accused because his locker location was near where it was found and they said he was the only one tall enough to put it there. He was removed from class, made to sit in the office until police arrived not knowing why, questioned intensely by a police investigator, hand writing analysis, everything he had at school was confiscated and searched, he was told all kinds of things would happen to him if he didn’t confess, profusely embarrassed in front of students and teachers- all of this before we were notified – he was not the same after this incident – it went on for weeks, police came to our house, and investigators harrassed me at work because I wouldn’t agree to the further investigation they wanted to do which included taking him to the station, fingerprinting, mugshot, etc – I was told this was the only way to clear him and it would always haunt him forever, even if he were stopped for a speeding ticket. (Not true, btw) I refused, even though he was willing if it would make them stop. I refused because there was no evidence, other than his height (kids never stand on things, jump or lift each other, right???) From what I saw, they were looking for a reason to charge him and I didn’t trust they would execute a fair investigation, it was clear, they had decided already he was guilty – it was a nightmare – prior, he was an excellent student with never a discipline problem at home, school or church. He finished school a year early, he’s a smart guy – but went from this happy, sweet, guy who loved school, to depressed, quiet, hated school, and self esteem issues, he couldn’t wait to graduate. That was 10 yrs ago – he’s beyond it now, but only this year has he come full circle. We didn’t know our rights – he was our 4th child and we’d never seen anything like this from school – The note wasn’t his – I saw it and knew right away – also the so called “threat” was so ridiculous, (I no longer remember it’s content) but couldn’t believe they took it as a threat anyway – and the boy who it was about was my son’s friend, said he knew it wasn’t from him, and didn’t even feel threatened by the note, never received it or knew of it until the police showed him. None of that mattered. The boys mother worked in the office and felt so bad for us – I told the school and police, if they had ANY evidence to charge him with ANY real crime, we would comply, otherwise, leave us alone. The boy’s parents were satisfied our son didn’t do this and felt no safety issues for their son at school. Our school didn’t suspend him either – no charges were ever filed, nothing ever surfaced that he did anything, other than go to school that day. So would you now say that school “did the right thing” ? Unfounded public humiliation is really hard for anyone, especially a child.
You made the mistake of not filing a massive array of civil suits. District, school board, principal, vice principal, officers involved, police force, and so on. You will cost them lots and lots of money, and if you get anything to stick against anyone at the school; principal, vice principal, etc. You just ended their career. I would say that is at least the start of a decent punishment against a thug going around bullying your children like that.
I agree somewhat with “no”. It doesn’t really sound like the Vice Principal got they they screwed up. She needs not someone to tell her that she screwed up, but the space to come to her own realization of that. Asking her to sign a 5-day suspension might give her some breathing room to do that. I am all for compassion and understanding, but sometimes consequences are necessary. Or maybe whip her off to the police department where she is battered with questions, without legal counsel, like they do in movies…but I don’t know if that would really help the VP be in the child’s shoes or just throw gasoline on the fire. The emotional hurt could be healed with compassionate communication about what happened from each person’s perspective, how each person felt with the space to be heard, all this with a mediator.
As an aside to the alcohol issue, what about fruit juice, is that not allowed in the school? Fruit juice can also have 0.1 – 0.3% ABV. I would either just rebottle the kombucha into a plastic or metal container and/or making your own kombucha.
all their money comes from taxes, this is why they do not care if they screw up.
Its your fault you didn’t sue. You should have contacted a lawyer immediately. Maybe your son, because of his age, might still have rights, but I doubt it. You;re just lucky your sons didn’t make a false confession, as occurred with a murder in CA.
GEEZ, did any of you read her post—she said right thing IN THE END—she wasn’t saying they did the right thing all along.
right thing in end. did you read that they say they didn’t do what they did do. that’s not right thing in the end. they owe the kid a public in school aploge so other kids know he didn’t do what they now think he did. his school years ahead could be riddled with bulling because of how the school handled it. they need to say we did you wrong you and your parents. we over stepped our bonds and it wont happen again to another kid!!
To the person who claims “they did the right thing at the end”: part of what they did at “the end” was to backspin so how could that possibly be considered the “right thing”? They handled it incorrectly all along and then LIED by saying the child “was not suspended” when the child SIGNED a 5-day suspension notice. A more accurate statement would have been “the suspension was revoked” or something like that. There are no excuses for the way these idiots handled this and to think anyone would try to defend ANYTHING they did is a complete joke and why we are in this mess of overreaching policies without regard for basic liberties.
No, the right thing would be for the teachers and administrators to be looking for a new job.
If I read your comment correctly, you feel that the first day was handled badly? However, they took the proper steps only after hearing the Healthy Home Economist did a blog about the incident? You might want to consider reading what you wrote and rewrite what you said. In actuality, it sounds like you are condoning what the school district did overall.
First off, there is no age listed for the child….who could be in K thru 8. Children in elementary school will do whatever anyone in authority tells them to do. Did that child REALLY understand what he signed? The first thing the school district should have done is called a parent or designated person to deal with what’s going on. Even tho the SRO was at the school already, he should never have been called in.
What the teachers SHOULD have done was looked up the definition of Kombucha tea and learned what it was. But no, they jumped their reactionary gun because they saw the word “alcohol”. There was nothing in this story handled correctly and I see back-pedalling at it’s finest.
That only works if you assume that the teachers are intelligent enough to a) look it up and b) to understand what they read. From the information in the article I doubt that is the case.
I agree with thefarnz. The school botched things pretty severely in the beginning, but I feel like they were committed to making it right in the end. I’m also encouraged to read how they are planning to review/revise their procedures for future incidents and take a more nurturing approach. It’s sad that the world we live in make it necessary, but it’s important that schools take a perceived threat seriously. Also, I have to wonder if maybe the kid said something to his friends about having alcohol in his lunch. How else would the kids who told on him or the staff know what kombucha even is, let alone that it contains a miniscule amount of alcohol?
How could some other kid have known? How about the other kid asks what he’s drinking and the kid hands over the bottle? Farfetched I know…
Like I said below. The most they should have done is take the tea and call the parents.
Dude, they didn’t make it right in the end. The student victim here has received zero compensation for his suffering, and the guilty parties at the school have received no punishment. Fire every administration actor involved in the incident and pay the victim’s family $100,000. Now the next time someone at the school wants to act like an ass they know that that if they screw up that a.) they will lose their job and b.) there will be a financial incentive for the victim to push for said punishment.
well said no
While I do see that they backpeddled when they saw their error, you absolutely can NOT tolerate people who have your children “captive” to shoot first and ask questions later. What in the world were they thinking? Call the parents and ASK what Kombucha is, if you don’t know! Not asking them to keep up with every possible thing that people choose to eat and drink, just take the responsibility of “first do no harm” for our kids! Err on their side, as that is what anyone should do for another human being…especially a child.
I can also see the schools concern and think I am the only one seeing it this way. School staff read that his beverage contained alcohol. (Albeit a very small amount) They have a zero tolerance policy in place. Zero tolerance means just that. They were possibly looking to question the child w/o parents to see if they gave him alcohol more regularly. I see it as a questioning to see if they needed to call Child Protective Services before calling in the parents. They obviously later learned more about the beverage but the family still violated the zero tolerance policy. If you ‘kind of’ break zero tolerance sporadically on bullying, is that OK as well? Having him sign a suspension form w/o his parents was not right but not quite law suit worthy. I am appalled at the “law suit” posts. SAD!
I agree whole heartedly! They saw alcohol on the bottle! The mother would have had 0 issues if she had simply put the kombucha in a different glass container. She also states on the original post (a link from the first Healthy Home Economist post) that her son was telling others about the drink and reading the ingredients. He is of middle school age from what I read. What middle schooler do you know would hear the word alcohol in a drink and not tell someone else? The school has a 0 tolerance policy and quite possibly thought they would have to call CPS. The safely of the child was thought of as well as the fact that the bottle says alcohol. I can se why they flipped out. Was it extreme? Possibly. However, I do not think anyone should sue. They’d lose the case as soon as the defense lawyer said the bottle label said ‘alcohol’. Case closed.
” Case closed.” Hahaha. So now you’re an attorney? It might *just* have something to do with the grounds for the suit. Perhaps the suit would be filed regarding the being held incommunicado and threatened? Methinks yes. I wonder what the bottle said. I doubt it said that it does contain, but probably more likely “may contain…”. Yes that’s the crux of the stupid administration at the school. the label mentioned alcohol. At that point all thinking ended and they see everyone patting their little heads and saying “good boy”. At that point they saw the school board giving them praises and raises, lauding them for being so diligent to “protect young minds” from the evil of actual thought. Lead by example, I say. The education system today isn’t about teaching people to use their brains and think their way through issues, it’s about conformity and obedience, and that is what is on display in this case, in spades.
I love the commenter hereabouts who capitalizes ZERO at every post, like we’re all too stupid to know what ZERO means, or that we miss it somehow. See me? I can capitalize ZERO, because it’s a ZERO tolerance policy. See ZERO and that means ZERO in case you don’t get it! ZERO tolerance = ZERO thought.
They LIED about how it was handled – yeah, that’s acceptable – NOT!
Back pedaling at its finest. Great work exposing the school!
If you want to voice your concern to the school authorities:
Newport Mesa Unified School District Board of Education
President: David L. Brooks
714-545-1150
[email protected]
Dr. Frederick Navarro
Superintendent
Office: (714) 424-5031
[email protected]
Laura Boss
Director of District Communications
[email protected]
Office: 714-424-5070
Of course they should sue and I am sure they will. The only reason the school back-peddled and spinned so vigorously is (for those of you out of the area) this is a very affluent area and I am sure the family already has an attorney on retainer. The child was treated abusively; this was more than an investigation. This school and other schools have no policy in place regarding investigation of incidents to prevent abuse of children. The child was held against his will for several hours. He was threatened with being removed from his school and being sent to an alcohol treatment facility. He was interrogated by a police officer and asked questions that are protected by privacy legislation. When my kids were younger I told them if there was every an problem they were to call me, and if they were told they couldn’t call their parent, they were to do it anyway. If an official would attempt to remove a cell phone from a child’s hand, that is criminal assault. The family should also contact CPS, as these school officials and staff should not be permitted to be around children. If they are going to abuse one child, they will abuse another.
You might consider the suggestion about calling the CPS. You’re well-researched, but this looks like a gap that needs to be filled. Pls check Brian Gerrish in the UK (UK Column) who is a former Royal Navy LT Commander and now blowing the whistle on CPS in UK which is same in US.
“child stealing by the state” by Brian Gerrish. He’s on YT and the UK Column site.