Officials at Bates Middle School in Sumter, S.C. have suspended an eighth-grade boy for nine days — the rest of the school year — because he brought a tiny pouch of Carolina Reaper pepper flakes to school and gave some pepper flakes to friends.
The incident occurred on May 18, reports local CBS affiliate WLTX.
Jacob’s friends did, indeed, consume the pepper flakes. Some got sick.
Taxpayer-funded officials at Bates Middle School suspended Main’s son, Jacob, for nine days on the day he pulled the old bring-peppers-to-school-and-dare-friends-to-eat-them stunt.
School officials decided to label the hot peppers brought to school by an eighth-grade boy as “Category III contraband.”
The boy’s mother, Lori Nesbitt Main, believes the nine-day suspension is patently ridiculous, reports Columbia, S.C. CBS affiliate WLTX.
“I came home yesterday and he asked me if the school called me and I said, ‘No. Why?’ And he started telling me and I could not believe it,” Main told the station.
“They said that it was considered a contraband because it was harmful to children,” the mad mother added.
An unidentified school official informed Main that hot peppers can totally murder children in the event of “an allergic reaction.”
None of Jacob’s friends died. In fact, the sick students merely paid a visit to the school nurse’s office — as a precaution — and then went on their way.
Jacob explained to WLTX how he hatched his plan to bring “Category III contraband” pepper flakes to school.
“My friends, they knew I had it at home and they were asking me to bring it to school so that they could try it and I said, sure, why not?” he said.
In a statement, Sumter school district spokeswoman Shelly Galloway stressed the deadly seriousness of eating really hot pepper flakes.
“Approximately 10 students willingly tasted Carolina Reaper pepper given to them by an eighth grade student,” Galloway said. “Bringing a harmful substance to school is considered contraband and is a Category III offense.”
Main, Jacob’s mother, is not pleased about the suspension.
“I would’ve been fine if it was a day or two,” she told the CBS affiliate. However, she called nine days “sort of out there.”
In addition to being suspended from the classroom, school officials have banned Jacob from setting foot on school grounds.
He will be able to attend his middle school graduation on June 1.
According to one seller of Carolina Reaper red pepper flakes, the flakes rate around 2 million on the somewhat scientific Scoville Heat Scale, a gauge of the “hotness” of anything related to chili peppers.
By comparison, police-grade pepper spray — which is serious business, let The Daily Caller just tell you — rates 5,300,000.
A pimento rates 500.
America’s teachers and school principals continue to insist on outrageously out-of-proportion punishments for students — primarily young boys — who bring hilariously non-dangerous things to school in recent years.
Bizarre punishments for boys doing innocent things boys do have become a staple of American elementary education. The best-known and most cosmically stupid case is, of course, the kid who got suspended for chewing his pop tart into the shape of a gun. (RELATED: Second-Grader Suspended For Having Breakfast Pastry Shaped Like A Gun)
Hot pepper-related fracases are rare but unknown at America’s public schools. Suspensions don’t typically result.
In 2014, for example, a school in suburban Denver was evacuated and a hazmat team showed up because “approximately six” habanero peppers caused a contamination scare. The half dozen habanero peppers were scattered in shreds among the wood chips on the preK-12 school’s playground. (RELATED: ‘Approximately 6’ Habanero Peppers Cause HAZMAT Scare At Denver School)
The pell-mell pepper pandemonium in Denver went down in the early afternoon, as children playing on the playground began reporting mysterious skin reactions. Seven students ended up in the hospital. Another 23 kids and an adult aide were reportedly decontaminated on school grounds.
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