Thirsty?

13 year old Middle School student Kyleray Katherman attends the Oregon Coast Technology School located at the North Bend Middle School in North Bend, Oregon. It seems that the school had a problem with students sneaking Vodka into the school in water bottles. So, how does the school respond? I’ve talked about this before -- they responded with the standard knee jerk adult response to youth issues: ban something.

In this case they banned water bottles. Young people drinking alcohol in school? Easy solution: ban water bottles -- problem solved.

Except that I seriously doubt that the problem is really solved, or even addressed. However, an entirely new problem has been discovered.

In an assignment for an English class, of all things, Mr. Katherman decided to conduct water tests within the school. He tested 5 water sources; 4 drinking fountains and 1 toilet. As his tests revealed, if students want to drink clean water at Mr. Katherman’s school, their best bet is to drink out of the toilet.

(I love this part) Mr. Katherman presented his findings to the School Board with a PowerPoint Presentation, and recommended that they either lift the ban on water bottles (my note: and maybe address the real problem?) or install water coolers.

Some plumbing has been replaced at the drinking fountains, and all were given a thorough cleaning by custodians. Some teachers are also providing water in their classrooms -- but so far there are no water coolers and the ban on bottled water remains in place.