Pubdate: Sat, 24 May 2008 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://torontosun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Ben Spencer POT SMOKER'S LAMENT 2-Day School Suspension Doesn't Smell Right For Marijuana Marcher For most 17-year-old high school students, it doesn't get much better than a four-day weekend. For a self-proclaimed -- albeit occasional -- pot smoker, it's like manna from heaven. But Matthew Bruni would rather have been at school instead of at home yesterday after being handed a two-day suspension from Richmond Hill's Saint Theresa Catholic High School. His crime? Joining two of his toking buddies -- plus another 20,000 weed walkers - -- at the 10th annual Global Marijuana March at Queen's Park earlier this month. Matthew's buddies handed a teacher footage of the three of them at the May 3 "freedom festival" for a school assignment. The Grade 11 student wasn't involved in the assignment and says the footage shows him smoking a cigarette. But the school claims it's a joint and that Matthew is high as a kite. "They claim I was too stoned to remember," Matthew said, adding his school is taking a "holier-than-thou" attitude. So was he? "I was, but they don't have it on camera so they can't prove it," he said. Saint Theresa's declined comment but York Catholic District School Board spokesman Chris Cable said the three boys were told to steer clear of the march as the topic for their communication technology project. They were suspended for "conduct injurious to the moral tone of the school," Cable said. "So in other words, they were on camera representing the school acting in an inappropriate manner." She dismissed Matthew's argument that the video had been shot out of school hours and is therefore none of the school's business, saying there is a "large school connection" because it was for a school assignment. Matthew's mother, Delma Bruni, said Matthew wasn't doing anything wrong and he was on his own time anyway. "Regardless of whether he was high, the school is stepping over the line here," - --- MAP posted-by: Derek