Pupils suspended in laxative prank
Spiked brownies claim 25 victims
By Lisa Black
Tribune staff reporter
May 4, 2004
Two 8th graders at a Long Grove school who distributed brownies laced with laxatives to 25 classmates were suspended for failing to grasp the seriousness of their prank, officials said Monday.
"Nobody was seriously injured, but you have to be careful," said Chris Jakicic, principal of Woodlawn Middle School, where the stunt occurred. "The way we calculated it, there was about one dose [of laxative] per brownie."
The two pupils, who said they had seen a similar joke on television, were suspended for five days for the April 27 incident. Two other 8th graders were suspended two days for their involvement, but school officials declined to describe what they did.
The pupils who masterminded the plan told their victims about the joke after they ate two batches of brownies during lunch, prompting some of them to tell school officials.
Although no one complained of feeling ill at school that day, several pupils told officials the next day that they experienced the full effects of the laxative after arriving home.
"The most troubling thing is that the kids didn't see the potential that someone could have been harmed," said Supt. Thomas Many of Kildeer Countryside School District 96. "They thought that it was a joke because they had seen it on television."
School officials said they were not sure which TV program the pupils had watched.
The day after the incident, six 8th graders, in a show of support for the suspended pupils, wore T-shirts to school that read "Funny Not Fatal."
Jakicic told the pupils that although they have a right to express their views, the joke could have had more serious implications. After the conversation, they turned their shirts inside out or changed, she said.
Jakicic sent a letter home Thursday and posted it on the district's Web site, explaining what had happened in hopes of ending rumors.
On the day of the incident, she contacted a pharmacist to determine what the potential side effects would be.
"Any student who had eaten even a portion of a brownie was directed to call home under adult supervision to let his/her parents know what had happened and to ask any questions of school personnel," she wrote. "While a few students suffered some mild side effects, fortunately no one was seriously injured."
The letter also stated that the pupils would no longer be allowed to share food at school. That means the next time a child has a birthday, he or she cannot bring and share a snack with the class. The school has nearly 700 pupils in 6th, 7th and 8th grades.
Many parents agreed with the school district's handling of the matter and the suspensions.
"I was upset. It could have been my daughter who got sick," said Nancy Cliburn of Long Grove, whose daughter did not eat the brownies.
Mari Russell of Kildeer said she used the letter that was sent home as a teaching tool when talking about the incident with her son, a Woodlawn 6th grader.
"I was appalled at the cruelty of it, to use these other children for a laugh," Russell said. "It was so disrespectful to them."
Long Grove resident Adele Odegaard, whose daughter is in 6th grade at Woodlawn, had a different reaction at first.
"I laughed because they did that when I was young," she said, quickly adding, "of course, it's never right or appropriate."
School board President Marc Tepper said he also had mixed feelings, recalling his days in college some 30 years ago when similar pranks were played.
"It's that springtime thing, with a few weeks left of school, and kids tend to do dumb things," Tepper said. "You want to remind them, guys, this is not reality TV."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
