Two 12-year-old girls held for trying to sicken teacher with lip gloss

As assaults go, strawberry lip gloss is not the usual weapon. Unless, perhaps, the suspects are two 6th-grade girls.

Two 12 year-olds spent Thursday night in juvenile detention for allegedly trying to sicken their teacher — who has a severe allergy to strawberries — with a dose of synthetic strawberry-scented balm, applied to a drinking glass.

The girls, students of Sakai Intermediate School on Bainbridge Island, told police they considered using real strawberries, but did not want to kill their teacher, just provoke an allergic reaction, said Mark Duncan, deputy chief of the Bainbridge Police.

The girls' alleged motive? To avoid trouble for not getting parent signatures on a progress report.

"They thought if they could make the teacher sick, then the progress report would not be an issue," said Duncan. "This is 12 year-old thinking."

The teacher, Kasey Jeffers, had a reaction after drinking from either a water bottle or coffee cup — both were slathered in lip gloss — but avoided anaphylactic shock with medication, said Duncan. Her allergy is well-known at school and is so severe that her class is a strawberry-free zone, said Jo VanderStoep, principal of the 600-student school.

The girls, whose names were not released by police, were turned in by other students. Duncan said they had no previous record, but they were scheduled to appear in Kitsap County Juvenile Court today on suspicion of second-degree assault.

"The girls are feeling very remorseful," said Duncan.