Law Humor

A politician who recently lost his job after a scandal has been reinstated, and his record will be cleared, officials said today.

Thanks for reading, Client-9, but it's not you.

Eighth-grader Michael Sheridan, of New Haven, Connecticut, was suspended and stripped of his title as class vice president after he was busted for buying contraband Skittles from a local dealer.  The Skittles-pusher was one of Sheridan's classmates.  Skittles and similar banned substances have been illegal in the New Haven school district since 2003, when the district implemented something called a "school wellness policy."  (It appears that this was a candy ban and not due to concerns about "skittling," which I've just learned is a term for getting high by taking too much cold medicine, some brands of which look like Skittles.)  In addition to losing his position, Sheridan was suspended for one day and barred from attending a dinner for honors students.

After some controversy over the matter, the district superintendent and school principal Eleanor Turner met with Sheridan's parents this week.  The superintendent announced afterwards that Sheridan would be reinstated.

No reason was given, but in a statement Turner suggested that the "Just Say No to Skittles" policy may have been unclear.  It was apparently a verbal warning, which Turner said she should have reinforced in writing.  "I am sorry this has happened," said Turner, her use of the passive voice indicating that she had done nothing wrong and that the problem was the fault of the thing that happened.  "My hope," she continued, "is that we can get back to the normal school routine, especially since we are in the middle of taking the Connecticut mastery test."  I wouldn't worry too much about that, since I think this story suggests it's not that difficult to master Connecticut.

Sheridan claimed he did not know the purchase was against the rules, but admitted he did notice that his Skittles dealer was "being secretive."

Link: AP via FindLaw.com