Garland Student Suspended After Sharing Inhaler with Asthmatic Classmate

A Texas middle school student was suspended after sharing her inhaler with an asthmatic student who was gasping for breath on Tuesday. She now faces up to 30 days at alternative school, said a local news source on Friday.

Indiyah Rush, 12, may also face a month in an alternative school as part of her punishment, Fox4 reported. Rush is an A/B honor roll student, and was in gym class at Schrade Middle School in Garland, Texas when her classmate began wheezing and gasping for breath.

“Asthma gets worse by every second,” Rush, who has had the disease since she was 5.

Rush offered the girl her inhaler and the two were sent to the principal’s office, where Rush was punished with several days of at-home suspension and 30 days of alternative school.

According to the school district, sending a student to a month of alternative school  is an automatic punishment for sharing a controlled substance, which includes prescription drugs like inhalers. The final punishment may change after a hearing scheduled for Friday.

“It's a prescription and one student’s severity with asthma may not mirror that of the girl who let the other borrow hers and that could have resulted in some pretty significant issues,” Garland Independent School District spokesman, Chris Moore, told Fox4.

Rush’s mother is concerned that time at an alternative school is an excessive punishment.

“My kid would not be mixed with kids that are using drugs at school or being caught with drugs, acting out in class,” Monique Rush said. “I don’t want any of that to rub off on her.”

“I was just trying to save her life,” Indiyah said. “I didn’t know I was doing anything bad.”