Police say second-grader brought drugs to his class at St. Helena Elementary School
A second-grader was found with drugs in class at St. Helena Elementary School on May 17, according to reports from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
The student, who was not named in the report because he is a minor, brought a plastic bag with marijuana to school, police said. He was seen showing off a bag around 7 a.m., and his teacher told him to put it away. When the student continued to show the bag to others in his class, one of students brought it to the teacher’s attention, according to the report.
No school resource officer is assigned to St. Helena Elementary School, and none of Beaufort County’s three law enforcement agencies created an end-of-year safety report for the school in 2019-20, according to a report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
According to South Carolina’s annual school report card, St. Helena Elementary had zero arrests or referrals to law enforcement in 2019-20, but had 35 in-school suspensions and 32 out-of-school suspensions for the year. The state report card does not include data on drug-related incidents.
Beaufort County School District does not comment on active law enforcement investigations or individual students’ discipline.
The student was questioned by police in the principal’s office with his mother on speakerphone, according to the report. No charges were filed because of the student’s age, and he was released into the custody of the school principal.
This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 2:58 PM.