Student Sues Over 10-day Suspension
Andrew Clevenger
Principal Calvin McKinney, who is named as a defendant along with the Kanawha County school board, allegedly called the plaintiff into his office and confronted him about the incident.
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“The plaintiff informed ... McKinney ... that at no time did he possess any drug or did he claim to possess any drug,” according to the suit.
Still, McKinney then threatened to suspend the student — identified in the lawsuit only by his initials — unless he joined McKinney’s “Narc Program” and went undercover to find real drug users at the school, according to the suit.
“The [student] was told that he was to ‘hang around the bathroom’ and the school parking lot,” the suit states.
McKinney’s investigation into the incident confirmed that the student was telling the truth about the Smarties candy, according to the suit.
“The plaintiff was informed that even though it was, in fact, just candy ... McKinney needed another ‘Narc’ for his program and that if the student would not agree to enter said Narc Program that he would be suspended,” the suit reads.
After the student and his parents met with school officials and the student refused to cooperate with McKinney’s proposal, he received a 10-day suspension, according to the suit.
McKinney allegedly told the family that his “Narc Program” had been in effect for several years, and this was an opportunity to get a good student to go undercover.