Judge Voids District’s Pot Penalty for Athlete

A high school’s effort to crack down on marijuana use backfired when it came to disciplining a football player who admitted smoking pot during lunch but has since recanted.

Travis McPherson, a defensive tackle and punter, had sued to stay on the team and remain at Sierra High School after a school district panel ordered him transferred to another school for his senior year, a move that would have prevented him from playing.

In a rare legal setback for school officials under pressure to impose zero tolerance drug policies, a judge agreed Thursday, ordering McPherson reinstated at Sierra High and returned to the Timberwolves football team.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge K. Peter Saiers also ordered school officials to erase the disciplinary action from McPherson’s record.

“It had nothing to do with the underlying offense,” Saiers said. “It had to do with the way the school handled the punishment.

“I don’t know what people are going to think. I don’t care what people think. I would do the same thing again,” the judge said when asked whether he was worried that his ruling might send the wrong message to teenagers and schools.

Saiers said the Manteca Unified School District’s transfer was illegal because the disciplinary review panel had imposed a punishment more draconian than the sanction the school’s dean had promised that McPherson would face if he confessed.

During questioning by the dean, McPherson signed a statement admitting that he did smoke marijuana, and agreed to a five-day academic suspension and 45-day suspension from the football team. That punishment was overruled a month later by the panel, which ordered McPherson transferred to Manteca High School.

“I just know I’m back here, and that’s all I really wanted,” McPherson said. “Everybody’s been real supportive. They want me to come back and play.”

Merely admitting to smoking pot is enough to disqualify an athlete from competing under California’s interscholastic sports rules.

McPherson says that he didn’t smoke pot and that he only signed the statement after being threatened with police action by then-Dean Maggie Freeman.

Calls to the Manteca school district and its attorney were not returned Thursday and Friday. But Supt. Marv Tatum told the Modesto Bee that he stands by the district’s drug policy. Next week, the school board will review the judge’s decision and consider an appeal.

No decision has been made whether to reinstate other boys who signed the same admission statements. Their families may pursue legal action.