Stevenson students suspended over attempted drug sale

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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:07AM

An investigation into the sale and attempted sale of marijuana on the campus of Stevenson High School has yielded an undisclosed number of student suspensions, but no expulsions or arrests. Stevenson and Lincolnshire police officials said the investigation is ongoing.

“There’s a variety of infractions involved,” SHS spokesman Jim Conrey said Feb. 1. He would not release how many suspensions the school has made. “The bottom line is that one is too many.”

Lincolnshire Police Chief Peter Kinsey also said he could not comment about the ongoing case. He would not specify how many students the LPD is examining, or what kinds or quantities of controlled substances might be involved.

But he clarified that the recent drug-related arrest of a Stevenson student was unrelated.

“That’s not part of this current investigation,” Kinsey said Feb. 1. “To try to link them all together and say they’re a part of the whole investigation in incorrect.”

Conrey said the investigation began in December, when officials found evidence of a student soliciting marijuana on campus. He did not detail exactly how the school learned of the allegations, but said the examination led to several other Patriots.

“Marijuana is what is mainly involved, but there are other drugs as well,” he said. Conrey would not go into detail about types or amounts.

Conrey said no one has been expelled — that requires a hearing before the School Board, which has not happened in relation to this case. He alleged that some of the suspended Patriots had attempted to buy or sell drugs at the school, while others were arranging a sale.

The investigation has included the confiscation of several students’ mobile phones and the examination of text messages and photographs held in them. Kinsey noted that, because there have been no arrests or expulsions, some parents are questioning the authorities’ decisions to take students’ private property.

“I don’t think we’re doing anything illegal here, I think we’re doing the right thing,” Kinsey said. “I think there’s some unhappy parents out there.”

Officials with the Patriot Parent Association did not immediately return calls for comment on the afternoon of Feb. 1. Conrey rebuffed questions of the authorities’ tactics.

“This investigation has been done strictly by the book,” Conrey said. “Those cell phones can be subject to search or confiscation. Having access to texts and cell phones has played a major role in this, without a doubt.”

Kinsey added that mobile phones have provided law enforcement with a bevy of evidence.

“These kids with their damn cell phones, they’ve got all kinds of things on there, going every which way,” he said.

Stevenson officials and Lincolnshire police hold one or two conferences at the school each year, at which parents and school officials frequently discuss the presence of drugs in the hallways.