Show and Tell, Billy Beer a Bad Mixture for Schoolgirl

The mother of an 8-year-old girl who was suspended for taking an unopened can of Billy beer to school for show and tell is outraged over the incident.

Melissa Woodfin said her daughter, Haley, should not have been suspended for taking the beer to school. The beer, regarded by many as a collector’s item, was named after former President Jimmy Carter’s late brother.

“I am furious,” the girl’s mother said. “She took it for show and tell. She didn’t run into a closet and pop it open.”

The girl was suspended last week from Skipwith Elementary School after bringing the beer to class. Woodfin said her daughter took the beer out of a display case from their home.

School Supt. William Bosher Jr. defended the decision to suspend the child, saying it was in keeping with the school system’s rules on alcohol and drugs.

The child must undergo counseling and intervention under the school system’s policy.

“Suspending young people is not what we are about,” Bosher said. “But we want to help young people understand that alcohol and drugs are not appropriate.”