to get angry when school threatens to exclude DS for smoking

[Sistah]

14 year old DS smokes. We have taken him to smoking cessation classes to no avail. He has been caught smoking several times on school premises and today they are threatening to exclude him, after catching him again.
Now, seriously? My feeling is that they need some perspective. They want to exclude him for smoking, they want to take him out of a normal learning environment for smoking? I think they are being totally unreasonable but they just don't see it. I get the broken record routine: "He broke a school rule". Pfft.

Strange thing to say, KayM. Why?

why is it ok for Lamorna to call this lady a troll, question her not me. Takes one to know one.

Because Lamorna seems to have a posting history, whereas Sistah has posted just one thread with a subject matter that is hard to swallow.

Lamorna isn't the only person to say so on this thread.

I'm with the OP, seems very harsh to be excluded for this alone unless other things have been done first. Exclusion from a school at 14 can totally fuck up your entire education. Considering what other kids get up to at some schools it seems heavy handed. By all means punish him, but exlusion is not the answer.

"Take away his money and then he couldn't smoke. I don't think that you can be trying very hard to stop him, if you don't want to stop money then keep him off the computer, take away a phone etc. I get the impression that you smoke and are not really bothered."

If you read the very few posts of OP you will know she has done all that already.

I wondered if she was a troll because instead of supporting the school and letting him take resposibility for his actions she seems to think that there is nothing wrong in a 14yr old smoking.
It was his choice to be excluded! He was given warnings, it didn't come out of the blue.
Apologies I didn't read that she had stopped money etc (how is he still managing it?)
If it was my DS I would be down at the local shops saying they were breaking the law by selling them and I would be reporting them if they didn't strictly uphold the law.