Pembroke elementary school staffer on leave for bringing marijuana edible to school, student rushed to hospital
A Pembroke school staffer was placed on leave Friday after school officials said the employee brought a marijuana edible to school.
A 9-year-old student got his hands on the edible and was rushed to a hospital, officials said. The student had been released from the hospital as of around 4 p.m. and is okay. As an investigation gets underway, though, 7NEWS spoke with the child’s father, who said this should not have happened.
“We’re not a club,” the father said. “It’s a school. My son is only nine-years-old. He shouldn’t know about this stuff at nine-years-old.”
The incident happened Friday morning at Hobomock Elementary School after schools superintendent Erin Obey said a paraprofessional took a backpack containing a cannabis product into a classroom.
Somehow, the student got the edible, with his dad saying he ate one piece of a marijuana candy bar.
“He didn’t feel good, he’s tired. I see his eyes are glossy,” the man said of his son’s condition.
Pembroke police and the Department of Children and Families were investigating as of Friday afternoon.
The school employee, Obey said, is on paid administrative leave, writing “possession or use of controlled substances or alcohol, while on duty or on school grounds, is strictly prohibited.”
“Any violations of this policy will be grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including immediate suspension and dismissal,” Obey continued in a message to school community members.
Obey said schools are “drug free workplaces.”
While marijuana is legal in Massachusetts, the father of the student who was involved in this incident said it seems to get into the wrong hands.
“People can have it. Let them have it, but not around my children,” he said. “You can do whatever you want to do but don’t bring it to us.”
The student’s father was at the Pembroke police station shortly before 6 p.m. Friday to speak with officers. The father said his son, who has special needs and is non-verbal, was at home resting as of Friday evening.
The father said he is consulting an attorney regarding this situation.