Fourth-grader suspended over suspected 'Jell-O shots'
AP: December 7, 2004

NEW ORLEANS -- An 8-year-old girl was suspended for nine days for bringing to school what appeared to be about 30 'Jell-O shots' -- though it was unclear whether they contained alcohol.

The incident occurred Nov. 29, as the girl stood after classes outside Geraldine Boudreaux Elementary School in Terrytown, a New Orleans suburb. A teacher spotted liquid dripping out of the student's bookbag and found what looked like the small cups of alcohol-laced gelatin that are sold in bars, schools spokesman Jeff Nowakowski said.

The girl told the principal that her mother, who works in a bar, makes alcoholic shots at home and sells them at work. The fourth-grader said her mother had instructed her to take the shots to school and sell them, three for $1, to make some money for Christmas, Nowakowski said.

The gelatin was turned over to the sheriff's department for testing to see if it contained alcohol. The girl was suspended for violating school rules against possessing or trying to distribute a 'lookalike,' or something that appears to contain drugs or alcohol. Under the lookalike rule, the girl's suspension will stand no matter what the sheriff's department finds.

'The school system's position is, it doesn't matter if it had alcohol in it or not,' Nowakowski said.

The names of the girl and her mother were not released. The mother must also allow school officials to test her daughter's hair for signs of drug use, Nowakowski said.