Woman tries to buy drugs from
middle school student
By L. Ballard
Clinton police officers arrested Melissa Summers, 29, of Anderson County, at Clinton Middle School on Jan. 28, after she arrived at the school to purchase prescription drugs from a student.
When Summers arrived on the CMS campus, she was taken into custody by Clinton Police Department detectives Vaughn Becker and Russell Barker and arrested for attempting to purchase Schedule II narcotics from a juvenile.
“We worked with our school resource officer Brian Galloway, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and the Clinton Police Department,” Stokes said. “There was good cooperation from everyone involved.”
Clinton Middle School Principal Bob Stokes said school officials became aware a student was in possession of Opana, a narcotic pain medicine, and another student had been sending text messages about its availability. Opana, or oxymorphone, is a very strong drug used mostly in severe pain management.
The investigation included and began with two cell phone violations, Stokes said. This enabled school officials to retrieve text messages which indicated a mother of a CMS student planned to come to the school and pretend to sign her child out for an appointment so that the transaction could take place.
According to Anderson County Board of Education, four eighth grade students have also been expelled under Anderson County Schools zero tolerance policy for students who possess, exchange, receive, or negotiate for drugs.
However, Stokes said the investigation will continue, to discover whether any other students were involved in similar acts.
“We have about 700 students in our school, kids who are doing wonderful, amazing things to further themselves,”
Stokes said.
“We will not tolerate behavior that puts our students at risk.”
The Anderson County School system serves 7,000 students in nine elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools. The system also includes a career and technical center, a K-12 alternative school, and a pre-school/Head Start program as well as an adult education program.
ACS employs more than 1000 teachers, education assistants, and support staff and operates on an annual budget of approximately $64 million in local, state, and federal funds.
