Child faces expulsion from school for selling sweets

A 12-year-old boy is facing expulsion from school – after being accused of trafficking SWEETS.

Flavien Roger will go before a disciplinary hearing today morning after he was caught dealing Jawbreakers to pals in his lunchbreak.

The pint-sized entrepreneur pocketed 28 Euros (£23) from sales before over-zealous teachers shut down his illicit enterprise.

He told teachers at his French school that he hoped to buy a flat-screen TV with the profits.

Flavien, who has been described as a ‘model student’, could be permanently removed if he is found guilty of ‘trafic de sucettes’ – or trafficking lollipops.

His mum Sandrine blasted the school for its excessive over-reaction, which she claims is completely disproportionate to the crime.

She said: ”I was summoned on Monday by the school who told me there was a problem over the sweets.

”Flavien was obliged to write a confession for a file to be examined by the disciplinary council. He was treated like a criminal.

”When the college called they told me that my son had been detained for trafficking lollipops and that the principal wanted to see me urgently.

”At first I thought he was joking. I told the headmaster, ‘Well at least he’s not selling drugs’, but the headmaster was not amused.

“My boy is a good student who has never given any problems and there is nothing in the school regulations to say that he can’t sell lollipops.”

Flavien launched his ‘business’ last month after taking a box of Monster Jawbreaker on a Stick – dubbed the ‘Holy Grail’ of Jawbreakers – into the playground.

His father’s bakery in Entraigues-sur-la-Sorgue, southern France is one of only two shops in the region that sell the sweets, and Flavien wanted to cash in on demand.

He managed to shift four boxes before teachers cottoned-on – and shut the operation down at Denis-Diderot de Sorgues College.

Flavien, of Avignon, near Marseille, said he started off selling the sweets as a favour to his friends.

And he added: ”This was too far for my school buddies to come and buy, so I started taking orders.

”It was a favour because you can’t find the candy anywhere else.”

Headmaster Jean-Pierre Lahutte, who will be conducting the hearing personally, yesterday insisted he was right to take decisive action.

”The problem with this is where is the limit?” he said. ”If today we allow a schoolboy to sell lollipops, tomorrow what will it be, cell phones, tomatoes?”

Flavien and his mother will attend a disciplinary hearing tomorrow at which the fate of his secondary education will be decided.

Sandrine added: ”I know that my son now faces a risk of being excluded from school but I do not accept that the charges refer to trafficking lollipops.

”I do not want that to dog him for the rest of his time in school someone might think he was selling drugs.

”Yes, he might have made a small mistake but this is completely disproportionate. A couple of hours of detention after school would have been enough.”

Mr Lahutte today stood by his bizarre decision – despite the fact that selling candy is not prohibited in the school rules.

”No matter,” he said. ”If needs be we will just add to the rules – set it out in black and white that that is indeed the case.”

A spokesperson for Dublin-based manufacturer, Zed Candy, said it was the first time they had heard of a pupil being threatened with expulsion for enjoying sweets.

She said: ”The only trouble we usually hear of with the Jawbreaker on a Stick is trying to finish it in one day.”