Pubdate: Tue, 14 Mar 2006
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2006 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Gloria Campisi
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

CRACK AGAIN? COPS QUESTION 1ST-GRADER

Police yesterday questioned a first-grader and an  eighth-grader to 
determine how 24 bags of suspected  crack cocaine wound up inside 
their North Philadelphia  elementary school.

The drugs were found in a hallway at the Hartranft  School, 8th and 
Cumberland streets, about 11:30 a.m.,  marking the third incident 
this year of young children  bringing suspected drugs to class.

According to school district spokesman Vincent  Thompson, each of the 
students questioned said a  plastic bag containing baggies of the 
drug belonged to  the other.

The boys had met in the hallway as the first-grader was  coming from 
lunch and the older boy, 14, was cutting  class, Thompson said.

A noontime aide standing in the hallway noticed a  plastic bag on the 
floor and walked over to the boys,  each of whom said it had fallen 
out of the other's  pocket.

The students were taken to the principal's office and  police were 
called. Police interviewed the first-grader  at the scene, with his 
parents present, and he was sent  home, Thompson said. A parent 
arrived and took the  eighth-grader out of school at 1 p.m.

The first-grader was to be allowed back in school today  but the 
older student won't be allowed back until the  investigation is 
complete, Thompson said.

He said no other students were exposed to the drugs.

Schools spokesman Fernando Galliard said he didn't have  exact 
figures but that the number of young children  bringing drugs into 
school was "probably the same  number" this year as last.

He said there were "probably one or two cases" last year.

"It is unusual to find this type of case in an  elementary school, in 
regards to holding multiple bags  of controlled substances," he added.

The youngest child involved in recent months wasn't  even in school 
yet - he was a 2-year-old who showed up  at his Logan day-care center 
with 11 baggies of crack  cocaine in his pocket last Dec. 2.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman