Kindergartner shares mixed tequila drink with classmates at Michigan school
Categories: US Education News
Several kindergartners consumed a pre-mixed tequila drink at their Michigan school, which acknowledged the "fears and frustrations" parents felt after they learned of the incident, officials said Monday.No student at Grand River Academy in Livonia was hurt or needed medical attention, school spokeswoman Leah Nixon said in a statement."We understand our parents’ fears and frustrations. A student did bring one pre-mixed, single-serve alcoholic beverage that was marketed as adult lemonade to school and share it with four classmates," Nixon said Monday in a statement to NBC News. "While we try to keep an eye on everything our students bring to school, that’s simply not possible. It’s unfortunate that these types of adult beverages can be easily mistaken for child-friendly drinks."Staff members at the school, 20 miles northwest of downtown Detroit, "quickly noticed the beverage and immediately addressed the situation" by contacting "medical professionals at poison control and calling the parents of the children involved," Nixon added. The incident happened when a youngster took a bottle of a Jose Cuervo mixed tequila drink to campus Thursday and poured it into small paper cups for fellow kindergartners during snack time, parent Dominique Zanders said.Zanders' 5-year-old daughter was left "woozy" and "dizzy" after she had "four or five sips" of the tequila before she told a teacher.There were no classes Friday, and Zanders said she kept her daughter out of school Monday as she reassessed education options.Sixteen of the class's 27 students were in attendance when the drink was shared, Nixon said. The K-8, tuition-free public charter school with 740 total students is overseen by and operates under the authorization of Grand Valley State University.A representative for the Allendale, Michigan, college said it is “reviewing the situation.”The university’s Charter Schools Office “will be working with the school’s Board of Directors to ensure that appropriate disciplinary action is taken, effective parent communication occurs, and policies and procedures are reviewed and amended, if necessary,” Grand Valley State University said in a statement.