Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum New Alabama law

I just read it goes into effect Oct 1st this year. Alabama teachers are required to report to DHR if a child smells of marijuana. This will be considered a child abuse case and open a DHR investigation. I don’t agree with this as in the teachers need to teach and not deal with outside the classroom issues.I remember years ago a late buddy of mine and his wife getting called into Oneonta school and they surprised them with DHR. Their son at the time was around 8 maybe. He was playing pee wee football and was all boy, aggressive and lived sports. All it simply was football bruising. But this teacher had reported it as child abuse. Now what if a kid is smoking weed prior to entering the school building and parents have no idea. Are they going to be arrested for child abuse? A teacher needs to teaching not doing social work in my opinion.

I distinctly remember sitting in court, fighting for my adopted daughter, when the sperm donors lawyer asked the Judge, when they had ever taken a child due to marijuana use. Judge shook his head no. Zero shits given.

No nevermind she was taken due to meth. Not weed.

As to the original post. Lots of factors to consider. But sometimes a teacher is the only layer of protection a kid has. Telling them to shut up can and will allow hard to come to a child who is actually being abused and needing help.

It's not a black and white issue. Nor should it be treated as one.

There are so many ways that can go sideways for a school teacher and the system.

If the teacher smells like pot, is that child abuse? Lol. I do agree, not teachers job.

There’s a big difference between a 7 yr old smelling like pot and a 17 yr old smelling like pot. In the former, I’m ok with the teacher getting involved.

That a clever way to re-implement segregation. 🤣

But they found a way to say it politically correct. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Teachers better weigh the odds of having personal attacks on themselves and their personal property if they get that involved... I'd be surprised if the issue is really so prominent this needs to be pushed.
I live in a state where it's legal and I've never heard of this happening. Not saying it doesn't though.

I don't think the bill ever made it out of committee.

Plausible Deniability. I don't smell anything. In reality you can smell it in our schools almost daily. Usually it is 2nd hand from the parents. I worked in a certain Huntsville school and it was just a way of life to smell it everyday.

This is not true. The bill did not pass.

What’s sad to me is a little pee wee baseball or football player who smells like smoke.
You could tell whose parents smoked, imagine all the second hand smoke they’re inhaling. Just as bad imo.
Poor kids.

Understand that teachers are Mandatory Reporters. In other words, if they don't report something what may be abuse, they are guilty of a criminal offense. They can get that monkey off their back by reporting it to the Principal, who is then required to report it to either LE or DHR. If it is reported to LE, then they are required to report it to DHR and vice versa, DHR to LE. There is a lot of effort to try to make sure no child falls through the cracks. This can be an inconvenience to teachers and parents at times, but the intentions are good.

Well someone is wrong

Not all true Jawbone. If the teacher suspects abuse, as a Mandatory Reporter, it is the Teacher's responsibility to contact DHR not the principal's job. The teacher can be held criminally liable.

Years and years ago, I was going back to school as a middle aged dude at Jefferson State in Hoover. In History class, which I loved, there was this young black dude that would some in ther eand sit next to me on the front row and he smelled like hs had just huffed a blunt in his Nissan Sentra with all the windows rolled up. Stoned AF.

he was asking me a history question one day and I just said it... "Dude, when you come in here you literally smell like Bob Marley just fell off a doobie wagon." He laughed his ass off and asked, "You want some?"

The teacher only has to report it to the principal. That meets the obligation. I've actually dealt with this before and the DA's office said the teacher met her obligation by reporting it to the Principal. Then they turned around and didn't charge the Principal but made sure the incident was turned over to the school system for their handling of it. In other words, a big warning. This was in the early to mid 90s so it may have changed and our DA often had lenient views of things.

Glad to hear that. I had a wife of a cousin post it on Facebook and she is a retired college professor so I guess she didn’t follow up on it as well

Something needs to be done, it smells horid.

Some laws were just meant to be ignored.