Pot-laced brownies bring HHS student pot full of trouble

The Hudson Board of Education will hear a recommendation to expel a Hudson High School student for bringing a bag of pot-laced brownies to class.

Ross G. Hobson, 17, who was charged in St. Croix County Circuit Court last week, waived a preliminary hearing set for 4 p.m. Tuesday. An arraignment on seven counts of delivery of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a public school premises and one count of conspiring to deliver marijuana, was scheduled for Nov. 1, 3:30 p.m. before Judge Eric J. Lundell..

"We had a pre-expulsion hearing Monday morning," said Superintendent Ron Bernth, "and we made a recommendation for expulsion to be advanced for consideration by the board of education."

Bernth said the board would probably consider the issue at a special meeting on Nov. 4, which will be closed to the public. He pointed out that by Wisconsin law, the board of education is the only body that can expel a student.

The superintendent said the pre-expulsion meeting included the high school administrative team, the district central office and the parents.

The criminal complaint alleged that Hobson brought a bag of marijuana laced brownies to a morning art class on Oct. 19.

Stephanie Thompson, an art teacher, said she had observed Hobson take brownies out of his backpack and pass them out to several students in the second-hour art class who began eating them. She became suspicious of the activity and conversation about the brownies and contacted associate principals Ed Lucas and Dennis Toll.

Hobson said he purchased the brownies from an unknown male individual for $20 in the parking lot of the Subway submarine shop in Hudson and that he knew they contained marijuana, according to the complaint.

Officer Ed Rankin of the Hudson police department said he could clearly see seeds, stems and pieces of vegetable material in the left over brownies when he was called in to investigate the situation in Toll's office.

Rankin called Investigator David Hake of the sheriff's department who conducted a field test on a piece of the plant material from a brownie and it tested positive for marijuana.

Several students reported sampling the brownies. Some said they tasted terrible and sticks and seeds were in them, the complaint said.

Hobson was ordered to post a $10,000 signature bond at his initial hearing last week.