Expulsions likely in marijuana ‘cookie caper’

CAPE ELIZABETH — It now appears that charges and school expulsions may result in the so-called “cookie caper” at Cape Elizabeth High School, in which as many 12 high school students sold, purchased or ate marijuana-laced cookies.

The incident occurred Dec. 7 during a daylong TEDx video conference event when police were called to the school after some students went to the school nurse, supposedly after eating the cookies. The incident generated comments on Facebook and other online message boards noting the irony of the incident taking place during a motivational event aimed at encouraging student to make ethical decisions in their lives. Others pointed out that the TEDx event was aimed at upperclassmen while the nine students suspended in connection to the incident were report to be mostly from sophomores.

Others have criticized media fascination with the case, although Superintendent Meredith Nadeau declined to do the same on Monday.

“It’s not my lace to judge the decisions the media makes,” she said. “I think it’s unfortunate when a sizeable number are involved all at one time, it becomes a story. For us, it’s our responsibility to work with the individuals and the school community to address some of the underlying issues.”

Principal Jeffrey Shedd did not return a call by deadline Tuesday, but did say in a letter to parents that "the choices of this small number of students, while unfortunate, help remind us of the value of events, such as TEDx day, that call us to big ideas and that inspire us to reflect on and follow, in the words of Lincoln, 'the better angels of our nature.'"

On Tuesday, Police Chief Neil Williams said his department’s investigation has since expanded beyond the nine students suspended to “around 12.” Charges are possible in at least one case, he said, although the investigation is not expected to be complete until the end of this week.

“We have to do it all the legal route and that just takes time,” said Williams, noting that “there’s an attorney involved for one suspect. At this time we still have one more interview to conduct and a couple of statements to get.”

Williams said there’s a tangled knot to unravel regarding which students supplied the cookies, which ones sold them, which ones purchased them, and which ones may have eaten the cookies but not paid for them. There’s also the question of which students, if any, knew what was in the cookies when they bought and/or ate them.

Police have confirmed that there was marijuana in the cookies, although reportedly nothing else that would have made the students ill. On Monday, Nadeau theorized it was possible some of the students who reported to the nurse may have gone in felling ill because they may not have known they were experiencing the effects of marijuana.

“I don’t think health issues were the primary factor we were dealing with that day,” she said.

Nadeau said Monday that no expulsion hearings are scheduled at this time, but at least one is anticipated, “by the end of the year or early January.”

Nadeau said initial talks have taken place about convening a study group to work out better ways to prevent substance abuse among students.

“Given the number of students involved, we need to take a look at what is underlying this in the community, not necessarily the incident as it occurred, but the issue of substance abuse in general,” she said.

Meanwhile, Williams said a large part of the police investigation is focused on going beyond the cookies to find out where the marijuana in them came from.

“Out investigation is pretty all-encompassing,” he said. “Obviously, we need to drill down and find out who supplied it. If we can do that, that would be good, too.”