CLAWSON, Mich. -- A teacher's aide has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired for reporting an alleged drug problem with a school.

Janine Fisher-Ethier worked at Schalm Elementary in Clawson for three years, and said she became aware of a suspected drug operation by a third-grader at the school in April of 2008.

Watch: Woman Says She Was Aware Of Drugs In School

"I was being told from students that the pills were floating around the school and that they were being sold for a certain amount of money," she said.

Fisher-Ethier said students told her the third-grader was selling Ritalin.

"When you think of a third-grader you think, 'I've got to be wrong. This can't be happen." And when you see it, it shocks you," she said.

Fisher-Ethier said she told the principal about the pills, but that he turned a blind eye.

"(He told me) to shut my mouth and walk the other way," she said. "If I saw any more pills I was not to touch them, I was not to do anything with them. I was to walk away."

Fisher-Ethier said she was eventually fired.

"My client reported something she thought needed to be reported," said Fisher-Ethier's attorney, Deborah Gordon. "Not only is there no harm in reporting, there could be a huge benefit to everyone.

Gordon said the principal overreacted following bad press on a previous incident involving stolen student medication.

"It was very hard to watch because you care very much about the kids," Fisher-Ethier said. "After I got fired, I'd be letting everybody down if I didn't do something. It's got to stop."

Fisher-Ethier said her lawsuit is not about revealing a drug operation, but that it is a whistle-blower suit against the principal, district and another teacher.

Clawson police said they could not substantiate claims that drugs were being sold at the school.

The school district decline to comment.