A Henry County student won't be expelled for giving a counterfeit $10 bill to a teacher selling candy for a fund-raiser.
Tierra Payton, a junior at Dutchtown High School in Hampton, was suspended for a week and faced possible expulsion for passing along the counterfeit bill at school last Tuesday. Payton said she had no idea the bill was counterfeit.
In a disciplinary hearing Wednesday, school officials decided that Payton, 17, could return to school, but ruled that she did violate school policy on counterfeit money, her aunt, Cheryl Gardner told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"She was just happy to be able to return to school today," said Gardner, who said she gave her neice the $10 bill, which she got from a self-checkout station at a home improvement store. "The hearing officer said he believed Tierra had unknowingly used the fake bill."
Gardner said she is concerned how the disciplinary action will affect Payton's future. "I was told that only her academic records could be released to colleges. But the military could have access to her discipline records."
That doesn't sit well with Payton's family.
"She's going to be held responsible and it's going on her permanent record when she didn't know the money was counterfeit. It shouldn't be on her record at all," said Gardner.
In an earlier interview with Channel 2, Payton said she has “cried more than I could ever cry” after the school suspended her pending the hearing.
Payton said that after she bought the candy bar last Tuesday and the unidentified teacher gave her change, she went to her next class.
She was later called to the office, where school officials confronted her. A day later the money was determined to be fake and she was suspended.
"I don’t have a money marker to determine [if money is real],” Payton told Channel 2. “It's not that I knew. I'm more surprised than they are."
Gardner said her niece was made to feel like “a criminal before any trial.”
A school spokesman would not comment on the incident, citing student privacy. He provided a copy of its policy, which states it is a violation to possess, use, sell, buy, give away, barter or exchange counterfeit money.
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