by In New Hampshire, Concord High School principal Jean Barker turned the tables on a student arranging to sell drugs via text messages by setting up a mini-string operation that lead to the student’s arrest.
That’s what I call excellence in education! Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of frivolous people willing to to take the drug pusher’s side.
From the Concord Monitor:
She [Barker] arranged the alleged drug deal with 17-year-old John Huckins through text messages while posing as a friend of Huckins’s, according to the report.
…
Huckins, a senior, was also suspended from Concord High for 10 days immediately after his arrest. But Concord school officials are also trying to suspend him for the rest of the year because they allege Huckins began the drug transaction over his cell phone while on Concord High property, a violation of drug-free school laws, according to court records.
Huckins’s attorney, Mark Howard of Manchester, is challenging that second, longer suspension on several grounds, one of which is that Concord school officials violated Huckins’s rights the first time they tried a longer suspension.
Howard declined comment, yet other criminal defense attorneys reached yesterday raised several concerns about Barker’s role in the case. Some questioned whether she had violated privacy rights or run afoul of drug laws by setting up a drug buy on school grounds.
"It’s bizarre," said Concord attorney Mark Sisti. "It’s a created crime."
Legal opinions, anyone?
Truth is that all crime is created. Robberies and drug sales don’t spontaneously happen. The current evidence in this case shows that Huckins was not solicited. His actions initiated the criminal activity that the good attorneys are now trying to obfuscate away.
None of which helps Huckins. A better course of action would be force the young man to accept responsibility for his actions, deal with his punishment like a man, and use the experience to become a better human being.
We should be thankful that there are still school administrators like Barker who are willing to step up, do what’s needed, and accept the inevitable criticism that follows whenever action is taken. I’ll concede that her actions may fall into a legal gray area; however, there’s no question that her actions were right and proper. Which is more important?
Barker defended her decision to pose as a student friend of Huckins’s to set up an alleged drug buy. Barker argued that Huckins’s alleged willingness to bring drugs to Brady, even under false pretenses, put her school at risk.
"Whatever part I play, it is with the intention of making sure all the kids in the building are safe and making good choices," she said. "I would not get on the phone and initiate buying drugs from someone. But when it was obvious that someone was going to involve one of our students in the sale of drugs, . . . I am not going to ignore it."
That’s it.
(h/t Houston Chronicle)
