Sask. teen suspended over pot debate protest gets back on honour roll
Last Updated: Thursday, June 28, 2007 | 2:01 PM CT
CBC News
A Saskatchewan teenager who was suspended from school over a protest concerning marijuana and free speech will keep his A average after all.
Kieran King, 15, was worried about his marks after he missed exams as a result of a three-day suspension from his high school in Wawota earlier this month.
High school protester Kieran King, 15, is currently in Shanghai, China.
(Anthony Germain/CBC)
The suspension followed a chain of events that began when King and his Grade 10 class were told about the dangers of drug use.
The honour roll student said he doesn't smoke marijuana, but some of the facts students were given about marijuana didn't ring true to him, so he did more research.
Then he shared what he found with other students, including his belief that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes.
"My mom was told by the principal that the police would be contacted and I would be punished if I continued to talk to the Grade 9 students about marijuana," he said.
In fact, the police were called when King and his brother staged a walkout at the school and invited members of the province's Marijuana Party to join them.
The protest turned out to be a small one — King and his brother and a few people from outside the school.
After that, though, King was kicked out of school for the same three days he was scheduled to write his math and science finals, before leaving for China to teach English.
As a result, and despite appeals from his family, he got zeros on his exams and his grades plummeted from As to Ds.
Protest video appeared on YouTube
The case made headlines across Canada and video about the protest appeared on YouTube. The Marijuana Party said the principal at Wawota Parkland School was suppressing King's right to free speech.
Now the school has reconsidered. It said in a June 25 letter to King's mother that because King isn't returning in the fall, it will let him keep the grades he had when he was suspended.
King, who is in Shanghai, plans to continue studying in China, where he will take correspondence courses.
Wawota, a town of about 540 people, is 240 kilometres southeast of Regina.
Officials from the school division weren't available for comment.
