PEARLAND, Texas – A Pearland student says he was singled out and punished for a vape that he didn’t even have.
The family not only says they have proof their son is innocent, but also say the school’s explanation for punishing him just isn’t adding up.
Rodney Bonham Jr. is a senior and star football player at Glenda Dawson High School in Pearland. He says he stays out of trouble and focuses on maintaining his 3.6 GPA, but now he’s been placed in in-school suspension and will soon be temporarily transferred to an alternative school — over a THC vape he claims he never had.
“What we were told by the assistant principal was he was in the restroom and the vape detector went off,” said his father Roderick Means.
Rodney was taken to the nurse’s office.
“One of the stops was to the nurse’s office where they checked him to see if he had any type of weed on him, to see if he was under the influence. Everything came back negative,” Means said.
The family appealed the disciplinary actions Rodney faces but it was denied. Details on the memo they provided don’t mention any detector going off but do state that after reviewing footage, statements from students and a teacher, it was found that the teacher saw Rodney drop something while walking and students saw Rodney drop a vape before another student picked it up and put it in another student’s backpack.
“This was my first time seeing this saying that it was dropped on the floor. He never mentioned that,” said Rodney’s mother, Sheterra Means.
The school findings also state the vape was tested and found to have THC in it.
“So we took him to a facility, a third-party facility, had him checked. There’s no nicotine in his system, there’s no THC, there’s nothing. Everything returned negative,” said Roderick Means.
We reached out to Pearland ISD. Officials say they are unable to comment on student matters, but sent us a link to their Student Code of Conduct they say aligns with House Bill 114, a Texas law that mentions mandatory placement in alternative school for misconduct including possession of vapes. But Rodney’s parents say that shouldn’t apply to their son.
“My thing is if he really did it, punish him, but we’re proving it’s not in his system but you told me that in order for this detector to go off he had to have used it,” Roderick said.
The family says even Rodney being in alternative school for 30 days puts his college football career in jeopardy because he could be missing crucial games that talent scouts attend. They add the school has shown them no evidence of their findings against Rodney. They plan to appeal the disciplinary actions once again, this time with the superintendent and the district.
Eugene Howard, Visionary Outreach Inc. President who has been an advocate for the family, released this statement:
“I truly believe that this is egregious and excessive punishment without proper evidence, and we will not sit idly by as this school district tries to railroad and delay this young man’s future.”