Canadian schools have long arms too
Whitby student suspended for jaywalking
Kelly Simo, a 17 year-old student at Anderson Collegiate, had a rude welcoming when she got to school on February 5. Vice principal Pauline Langmaid handed her a one day suspension for jaywalking on her way home the previous day. Kelly claims the light turned red while she was in the intersection, the vice principal says it was red and that Kelly must be punished for this ’safety issue’ as an example to underclassmen.
I say that’s a load of bull and Kelly’s mother Jackie feels the same way. It does not matter whether Kelly jaywalked or not. The incident was not on school property and was not during school hours. Jackie Simo confronted the school on precisely this issue.
“What I was told was the school day does not end until my daughter is in the house. I laughed and said, ‘So if my daughter gets hit by a car, is mugged, raped…assaulted, is the school going to accept responsibility because she has not walked in (my) door?’”
“What I was told was, ‘Let’s not get carried away…’
The Simos have been denied an appeal because the punishment was only a single day suspension and will not go on her permanent school record. The Education Act does permit schools to discipline students for some infractions that occur off of school grounds. These are generally items that involve the school directly or indirectly and jaywalking is not one of the listed infractions.
(Tip credit to Bumper)
I was told the same thing when I was in school. The school “owns you”, so to speak, until you’re in your home. That’s why I always made sure I was well out of sight of the school before I lit up when I walked home.
Why stop when the student gets home, how about the school owns you till you take of you uniform, and with nutrition maybe till after you eat. Tired student pull down scores on standardized tests, maybe they should check up on when they went to bed. The fate of education in North American no money for teaching boatloads for running a gulag.
To participate in athletics, band, and other activities, our school district requires each student to sign an agreement, acknowledging that alcohol & tobacco & illegal drug consumption are forbidden, and that an offense results in suspension from the activity.
An OK thing or abuse of school power?
This practice clearly extends the boundaries of discipline far beyond school property.
Should schools have the right to discipline kids for what happens in their own homes?
How unfortunate that schools are not spending more time on their expertise which is teaching academics. Discipline needs to be directed to parents and ? mental health specialist, as it is their expertise. Many factors should contribute to when to discipline, how to discipline, how much to and evaluate the outcome. Teachers have consistently demonstrated they do not want this job and they are not good at it! Parents and children need an advocacy. What if children had a union that represented their needs and fought for them to have the same rights (and money to back them) as teachers currently have.
Despite my remarks I do recognize that many teachers are doing a great job probably
about the same # of kids that are really good! Its always a few bad apples that make life difficult for us all!