Drama class ‘drug skit’ goes too far
Mississauga mother shocked to learn son’s project involved ‘blueprint’ for crystal meth
Delight Greenidge was perplexed when her 13-year-old son came home from school and asked how to make a tourniquet for an assignment just over a week ago.
But she was shocked when her son told her why he was asking.
“Oh, my assignment is about how to make crystal meth,” Greenidge recalled her son saying.
The assignment was for his Grade 8 drama class at Erin Mills Middle School, where he and five other students were assigned to do a skit. After struggling with their skit, the teacher gave them the handout about crystal meth, suggesting they do a skit about it instead. The doublesided printout had instructions on where to source materials to make the drug as well as how to inject it.
“I’m reading this thing and my eyes are just swelling as I’m reading it and I think my blood pressure went up by about 50 points because it is detailed, step-by-step, blueprint instructions on what you need to make crystal meth, how to prepare the crystal meth and then how to inject yourself with crystal meth,” Greenidge said.
By the time she finished reading the document, she was shaken.
“I think the worst part is that my son’s role in this play, skit — whatever it is — was to be the one injecting himself. So that’s the reason why he needed to know how to make a tourniquet,” said Greenidge.
The teacher, her son told her, said he should “act scared” when they are mixing the crystal meth, and “happy” when injecting it. The Peel District School Board confirmed the handout was given to students by their teacher in a drama class.
“We share the parent’s concerns around the appropriateness of the assignment. Certainly it’s not something we would ever recommend as a lesson plan to be provided to students at any age,” said Carla Pereira, the communications manager for Peel school board.
The teacher is on home assignment with pay while the school investi- gates the incident, said Pereira.
Depending on what’s found, he could be suspended or fired, but the investigation could take anywhere from days to months, she added.
“Very clearly, there is a professional conduct that we expect our teachers to . . . we’re looking to ensure that all of our staff are following those policies and procedures to the best of their abilities on a daily basis.”