One by one, dozens of Parkview High school students took a seat on the gym floor during an assembly on Wednesday to peacefully protest the punishment handed out to classmate Gavin Devic.

Devic said his ordeal started when a friend gave him a lift to a school dance in early December. "I didn't know beforehand that it was going to be in the car. Once I got in the car, I could smell it," That odor was pot.

When the two friends got to Parkview, Devic said school police officers pulled both students aside because they suspected the teenagers had been smoking marijuana. Devic told them he hadn't been using. "They said they knew because my eyes were low. And I laughed that off because my mom is Japanese American and my dad is Croatian American," he explained.

Devic took a drug test on the Monday after the incident and gave the results to school officials to prove he wasn't doing drugs. "I paid $30 out of my own pocket to get this drug test done."

On the night the two were questioned police found marijuana in his friend's car. The friend told the officers it belonged to both students, but he later recanted and put in writing that the drugs belonged to him alone. Devic said his friend thinks there was a breakdown in communication with law enforcers on that night.

Both students were disciplined. Devic's punishment meant a 10-day out-of-school suspension, which was shortened to 7 days and a 28- day athletic suspension, which hit during wrestling season when colleges are scouting; Devic was hoping for an athletic scholarship.

If the 17-year old senior wasn't offered an athletic scholarship, he was banking on qualifying for an A+ scholarship to pay for his first two years of college, but now that possibility is gone too.

Devic completed his school suspension and is back in the classroom trying to catch up. "For the first time in the semester, I fell below a 4.0."

Devic--who plays three sports in addition to working two part-time jobs and taking advance placement classes--said his mistake was getting in the car, but he believes his punishment goes too far, he said, "They set to make an example out of me, that even a good kid with this perfect record can get the same punishment as the trash you treated me like."

The school district is prohibited from discussing the discipline of specific students; however, in cases like these, the district follows the disciplinary guidelines in the student handbook. The regulations, in part, state that "Participation in student activities is a privilege and not a right."

If the student's behavior is not in compliance with the district's policy, he or she may be deemed ineligible to participate in school activities. The first violation can result in the following course of action:

• A minimum twenty-eight (28) calendar day suspension from participation in the activities program \viii be assessed for a violation of the Student Alcohol/Drug Abuse Policy JFCH and/or for conduct similar to that prohibited in Policy JFOf that occurs away from school and results in a summons being issued to the student, or charges being filed in court against the student or cooduct ~ which is verified to the satisfaction of the Administration.