Pubdate: Sat, 15 Feb 2014
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Jessica Heslam

PRINCIPAL: DISPENSARY SENDS WRONG MESSAGE

It's obvious Orchard Gardens principal Andrew Bott is passionate 
about his school and cares deeply for his students.

And he worries about them all the time.

He worries about them walking to school when it's icy.

He worries about them taking the T late at night. And now, there's a 
new worry. A medical marijuana dispensary is coming to Southampton 
Street, less than a half-mile from the cheery-yellow Roxbury school, 
which houses kindergarten through eighth grade.

It's opening in a neighborhood that's already home to three methadone 
clinics, a jail and a biolab - things no one wants in their backyard. 
And it's opening near a school that's a beacon of light in the city's 
otherwise struggling school system.

With Bott at the helm, Orchard Gardens has gone from one of the 
state's worst schools to having one of the fastest student 
proficiency growth rates in the state.

"I don't like it," he said. "I understand that the pot dispensary is 
going to be located somewhere, but personally, I don't like it."

"When is enough enough?" Bott said. "What is the tipping point?" His 
biggest fear is the message that a pot dispensary opening up sends to 
his students "about the value of their neighborhood."

To make matters worse, the Herald reported the dispensary's strategic 
adviser, and former company president, is a convicted pot dealer, 
which the principal called "concerning."

"It just seems problematic that somebody who has a drug conviction 
would be running something that could go so wrong," he said.

Bott said he plans to ask the school's governing board if there are 
any steps they can take to stop it from opening. But the school 
district has no current plan to protest the dispensary, said Boston 
Public Schools spokesman Brian Ballou.

Bott isn't worried about students being able to buy marijuana at the 
dispensary but he worries about others buying and selling it.

"With any prescription drug, you have the fear of people selling it," 
Bott said.

Two years ago, students visited President Obama. And on Feb. 24, 
students will go to the White House to sing for first lady Michelle 
Obama. They even penned a poem for her.

"There's no way that we're going to back down on what we've done for 
our kids," Bott said. "We're going to continue to make it work and 
make the school work, no matter what we have to do. The location of 
the dispensary doesn't change our focus, our mission, our vision."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom