Ionia High School student falls ill after eating candy containing ‘unknown substance’

IONIA, Mich. (WILX) — An incident at Ionia High School has parents worried. School administrators say a child ingested candy containing an unknown substance and became “seriously ill” as a result.

A letter was sent on Tuesday to families with children in public schools in Ionia informing them of the situation.

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“We have reason to believe the candy was mixed with an unknown substance. We will continue to investigate and work with law enforcement. Incidents of this nature are taken extremely seriously and will not be tolerated,” they wrote. “We are in the process of instituting disciplinary, corrective and/or remedial action, as appropriate. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigations and the Education Rights and Privacy Act Family (FERPA), our district is unable to comment further on the matter.

The student who got sick is fine now. Administrators say the child who fell ill received the candy from another student. All parents of affected students have been contacted.

Superintendent Benjamin Gurk, along with Ionia Public Schools administrators, said it was a good opportunity for parents to talk to their children about drugs.

They wrote: “Although this may be a difficult subject to discuss, we believe it is a good opportunity to communicate positively with our students and we encourage parents to also take this opportunity to talk with their children about the dangers associated with drug use.

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