Reported By:  Kay Flowers

Web Editor: Manav Tanneeru

Last Modified: 9/27/2004 9:34:50 PM

A Rockdale County father is fuming over his daughter's in-school suspension. He said the teen's only crime was simply smelling like smoke. Salem High School said it was standing by its strict no-smoking policy.

Carlton Bates said his 17-year-old daughter, Amanda, went to the office at Salem and told an assistant principal she had an upset stomach.

The administrator there "grabbed her shirt, smelled it, started smelling her hair and said, 'You've been smoking,' and my daughter replied, 'I haven't been smoking, I don't smoke,'" Bates said.

"She was not caught smoking, she was accused of smelling like smoke and put on five days' suspension for that reason," he added.

Salem's principal Robert Cresswell stood by the school's policy.

"Basically the girl smelled very strongly of smoke and we handled it as consistently and fair as we normally handle things," he said.

Cresswell said the rules were no smoking or possession of smoking paraphernalia on campus. Smelling like smoke is not a violation but "we assume if you smell strongly of smoke, you've been smoking," he said.

The girl's father said he does not condone kids' smoking, but he believes Amanda may have just been around friends who smoked off campus before school.

"She's never been in trouble with that school system. We've talked to her teachers, they love the kid. She's been a good daughter to us and I believe her," Bates said. "If she says she's not smoking, she's not smoking."

Bates has written the Rockdale County School Board asking for an apology and his daughter's record to be cleared.

Amanda's suspension is effective immediately. Principal Cresswell said the in-school suspension will not be a permanent entry on Amanda's school transcripts.