Students Taste Antacid Tablets, Digest Suspension For Violating District Rule

Fifteen middle school students have been suspended for tasting an antacid on campus, Bremerton School District officials said.

Bringing Alka-Seltzer to school or tasting it violates the district’s no-tolerance policy on drugs, Assistant Superintendent Mariwyn Tinsley said Thursday.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for drugs on campus and we feel strongly that there were some poor choices made by the students,” Tinsley told KING-TV.

She said the three-week suspensions that began Thursday should be a wake-up call for students and parents alike.

Austin Hicks, a sixth-grader at Mountain View Middle School, said his friend told him the broken antacid tablets were candy.

“And then after I tasted it, he said it was Alka-Seltzer and ‘Ha, ha … it’s a joke,”’ Hicks said. “After lunch I got called into the office” and was suspended.

His mother, Darla Hicks, said the district needs to keep things in perspective and realize the substance was Alka-Seltzer.

“This is not cocaine, this is not LSD or marijuana or anything like that,” she said.

The students can opt for a three-day suspension and attend drug-awareness classes and counseling instead.