DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Some South Carolina parents are outraged after their children were suspended for violating a school drug policy.
Channel 9's partners, WCIV, reported that leaders at Eagles Nest Elementary School in Dorchester County told the parents of nine students that their children were caught buying powder.
The problem though is that the powder turned out to be a mixture of Kool-Aid and sugar.
School leaders call it "happy crack" and said that anything that appears to be an illegal substance is a violation of school policy.
Parents say the punishments are ridiculous, claiming there was no ill intent, and that the mixture is similar to a pixie stick.
One parent said she didn't even know what "happy crack" was when school officials called her last week to say her son was being suspended.
"The way she called me, I thought my son died," she said. "She said there's this epidemic going on at school with happy crack. I Googled it. I'm like Kool-Aid and sugar, are you serious? I was appalled. I was floored. I really didn't think it would go to this extreme."
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There was a hearing, and the children's expulsion was reduced to a simple infraction. The school has not said how it will handle cases of the powder in the future.
This isn't the first time "crack candy" has made headlines. Last year an 8th-grader in Cleveland was suspended for five days because of it.
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