No one’s arguing that kids used cocaine at a D.C. elementary school the other week. But Sekou Biddle wants D.C. residents to know: that kid wasn’t one of our own. According to court hearings, the student who brought the cocaine to school lives in Prince George’s County. To at-large Councilman Bibble, that’s “almost as troubling as the incident itself.
“[I]t appears the student accused of bringing the drugs to school should never have been at the school in the first place,” Biddle wrote in a letter to Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright. He requested information from data on how many students have been pulled from D.C. schools for residency reasons, to the pay plan and grade for DCPS investigators.
“I am deeply concerned that District tax dollars are being spent on a significant number of students that are not eligible to attend our schools,” Biddle said. He also noted that if residency information is fraudulent, the school might have trouble contacting a guardian in case of emergency.
Five children at Thomson Elementary School were hospitalized on March 17 after a student brought cocaine to school. Four ingested the substance, orally and through their noses. The student who brought the cocaine was charged with possession of a controlled substance (cocaine).
“The Office of Attorney General handles juvenile matters and will determine how to proceed with charges given the age of the student,” DCPS spokesman Fred Lewis said.
