'Isolated' Incidents at Mokena Junior High: Attempts to Sell Knives, Marijuana

A student at Mokena Junior High School has been disciplined for trying to sell knives to three of his friends, Principal Michael Rolinitis said.

Rolinitis said he and his staff received a tip from a student about the incident, which happened about two weeks ago.

Rolinitis could not give specifics on the student's punishment, but did say "these kind of things carry a heavy suspension and being taken out of school for a long period of time." He added that the incident was not gang-related, and the boys meant to "go out and play in the woods" with the knives and did not intend to hurt anyone.

A separate incident was investigated later in the week when Mokena Junior High staff received a tip from a parent that students were selling marijuana at the school, Rolinitis said. The school carried out an investigation with the help of Mokena's juvenile officer.

No marijuana was recovered at the school, but officials determined that two students had been selling marijuana at the school during the previous week to week-and-a-half. Rolinitis said the act of selling marijuana at the school can carry an expulsion of up to two years, but he couldn't be specific on the sort of punishment the two students received.

"They're not here right now," he said.

Rolinitis alerted parents to the incident Tuesday in an e-mail.

"It is very important for me to share that at no time was MJHS an unsafe place for your children," he said in the e-mail. "Both incidents were isolated to two very small groups of students."