Take an unfair rule and implement it with bias. What do you get?
Mom cries foul over drink rule
Five Wyoming area students were convicted of underage drinking. Three of them were suspended from extra-curricular activities, following a district zero-tolerance policy implemented in 2000. Two of them did not receive the prohibition.
Swainbank and Bayard were two of 10 teenagers convicted by District Justice Joseph Carmody of underage drinking at the Exeter party.
Five participate in sports, but only three were suspended under the district’s policy, Williams said. She could not understand how the students could have been found guilty by Carmody and found not in violation of the school policy.
Williams suggested political influence played a role in the decision to allow at least one student to continue in school activities.
“You ought to investigate who was let go and why they were let go,” she said.
…
One of the students who was not suspended is a local official’s child.
The school defends their decision saying the two who were not blocked from activities were not actively participating in the party. They were drinking, they were at the party, but for some reason the school thinks that they weren’t participating.
The policy, implemented in 2000, calls for punishment for students who participate in parties where drugs or alcohol are present. The policy also covers parties that are off school property and those held during summer vacation.
So judging by the zero-tolerance policy’s description and the results of this particular instance it appears that it is okay if students drink and do drugs, just as long as they aren’t participating in a party while they do it.
Ignore for a minute the apparent favoritism here and the stupidity of the policy. If we take one step backward and look at it we see that this entire thing is simply long-arm politics. The school is attempting to control students and parents when they are not at the school. The policy covers summer vacation? How about the family trip to Germany? This is nanny state garbage pure and simple and some of the parents are suing on that basis.
Swainbank and Marlon Bayard, another football player suspended for being at the June party, filed lawsuits Wednesday in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas against the district.
The suits, filed by attorney Mark Bufalino, claim the policy violates the parents’ rights to raise their children. He asked a judge to stop the suspensions and declare the policy unconstitutional. A hearing is set for Monday.
This probably shouldn’t be of any surprise. When it comes to educational issues, PA is the most “nanny-fied.”
I don’t see how schools can control what students do off campus. What are they doing, tailing them?
A similar incident happened locally to a friend of mine’s daughter. She had made the cheerleading squad for the following year. At a summer party, she swam, and socialized, until she discovered some kids were drinking. She left. Someone “told” on her about being there (The rules state that being in the presence of drinking is a violation of the rules). When called into the office, she told the truth; that she had been there, but left, and had not drunk anything. She was suspended from the squad, but the football players at the party (who had been drinking) were allowed to remain on the team. They even held points against her when she tried out for the squad the following year. Her mom talked to everyone she could about it, but the fact that the girl was present where there was alcohol was evidently intolerable. The fact that the players were drinking evidently was not as big an issue to the school officials. Stupid…
Bet this happened in Texas, right?
Maybe someone ought to suggest boycotts of extracurricular activities when this sort of crap happens?
They won’t be so inclined to pull stunts like this if it leads to their entire football team forfeiting the next 5 games…
Four questions:
1) Should a public school have the right to discipline students for events outside of school property, hours, and activities? Isn’t that parents’ domain?
2) If that right were upheld, is a policy as described here likely to have fair and practical enforceability?
3) Who is held accountable for egregious errors by the school district?
See also:
http://zerointelligence.net/archives/000131.php
4)If policies like these are tools to encourage good choices by our kids to stay away from tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, is the end worth the means?
Mind if I take a shot at them?
1) Yes, but only under two circumstances. If there is a clear nexus to school (off campus attack on a teacher, a fight planned at school, etc), then the school might have a reasonable basis to act. Secondly, if a student and parent have aggreed to the condition as a part of participation in an extracurricular activity AND the offense is clearly related to participation in that activity (use of drugs by athletes). Otherwise, no.
2) This policy is inherantly flawed, as mere presence grounds for punishment. Even if one leaves immediately (as seems to have happened here), one is still guilty and punished under the policy for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when someone does something beyond your control.
3) It appears that no one is in this case.
4) Perhaps, but this policy doesn’t do that. Even making the good choice (leaving a place when illicit activities begin and reporting them) does not exempt you from punishment — and in fact makes you appear more guilty.
Number 4 is totally illlogical and to be expected from today’s public schools.
Don’t parents read newspapers or look at the disciplinary code (I know that some schools don’t even follow their own due process policies) or ask other parents and students how they’ve been treated by their schools in incidents such as this one?
I would think that a parent or student would get all the information they could about a school, its policies, and how students are treated by the administration before enrolling.
It would save a lot of grief later.
.
Let’s stop kidding ourselves. Teenagers are going to drink beer and smoke pot. We’ve all done it and most have turned out fine. I find it quite ironic that this generation of parents who grew up in the “drug era” have become anti drug zero tolerance Nazis. The tactics that we have taken to stop drug or alcohol usage is a thousand more times outrageous than the actual indulgence.
this is terrible. can’t marlon and the swain train learn their lesson. this is not only taking away spirit from the players, it is taking away spirit form the fans. i cant believe this
my daughter (the blonde) brought a gerbil to school. she has been suspended for THREE DAYS! the asst. principal was “bragging” that she was turned in by a group of other students. she was suspended a couple of months ago because she wrote a less-than-glowing letter regarding another a.p. this one follows only her and harrasses consantly regarding her clothes. she told me she deliberately picked her. on any given day, i can walk through there and see 1 out of 3 in the same get-up. she also accused her of wearing the “jelly” bracelettes for “sexual reasons.” her pant’s (jeans with holes in the knees) are “gang related.” while sitting in the office waiting for me to pick up the deadly animal, she opened her purse and went to get her calculator — which was in the same pocket as her cell phone. the original a.p. saw it, REACHED INTO HER PURSE and confiscated it. i had to pay $15 to get it back. this money goes into teacher party fund. when i confronted her, she lied about the entire incident. she said she asked for it and bailey handed it to her. my daughter went wi and said, “THAT IS NOT TRUE.” by that time, the man a.p. proclaimed that, “THIS CONFERENCE IS OVER!” he was rude, obnoxious and did admit that this was not the end of the world (he gerbil) but we have to have standards. THREE DAYS . . . AGAIN???? she had just brought her grades up from d’s to a’s and b’s! now, she must sit in silence for 3 days with no help. i find this outragous. at least if she were home, i could help her! i’m livid. does anyone know if i have any rights here? i know i have to go the principal next, but they stick together like glue! she will be rude and back them 1005%. WHAT CAN I DO??? itruly believe that are giving her this three days because they’ve labeled her. i don’t know who to go after first, her for doing it, or them for being jerks. HELP.
signed,
my daughter (the blonde) brought a gerbil to school. she has been suspended for THREE DAYS! the asst. principal was “bragging” that she was turned in by a group of other students. she was suspended a couple of months ago because she wrote a less-than-glowing letter regarding another a.p. this one follows only her and harrasses consantly regarding her clothes. she told me she deliberately picked her. on any given day, i can walk through there and see 1 out of 3 in the same get-up. she also accused her of wearing the “jelly” bracelettes for “sexual reasons.” her pant’s (jeans with holes in the knees) are “gang related.” while sitting in the office waiting for me to pick up the deadly animal, she opened her purse and went to get her calculator — which was in the same pocket as her cell phone. the original a.p. saw it, REACHED INTO HER PURSE and confiscated it. i had to pay $15 to get it back. this money goes into teacher party fund. when i confronted her, she lied about the entire incident. she said she asked for it and bailey handed it to her. my daughter went wi and said, “THAT IS NOT TRUE.” by that time, the man a.p. proclaimed that, “THIS CONFERENCE IS OVER!” he was rude, obnoxious and did admit that this was not the end of the world (he gerbil) but we have to have standards. THREE DAYS . . . AGAIN???? she had just brought her grades up from d’s to a’s and b’s! now, she must sit in silence for 3 days with no help. i find this outragous. at least if she were home, i could help her! i’m livid. does anyone know if i have any rights here? i know i have to go the principal next, but they stick together like glue! she will be rude and back them 1005%. WHAT CAN I DO??? itruly believe that are giving her this three days because they’ve labeled her. i don’t know who to go after first, her for doing it, or them for being jerks. HELP.
signed,
“ratted” on in texas
me again. my husband and i have been talking. at the beginning of this school year, i was called in to the assistant principal’s office (a.p.) and told that my daughter was hanging out with someone she shouldn’t. the girl was a new friend. although their family was hardly typical, you can’t judge a family by steps and divorces these days. she (the a.p.) took some bracelettes from her and gave me a copy of an article from newsweek stating they were “sexual.” she also told me i need to “watch the amount of black my daughter wears.” my daughter doesn’t wear anymore black than the rest of the school — mostly the school t-shirt! i was “invited” to come to lunch to see who she was sitting with. from here, the a.p. began to seem to follow her and go after her for everything. the girls wrote a note that was less than glowing regarding this a.p. and a kid stole it from them and took it to her. she was expelled for 3 days — as was the other girl. the note was written at my house (the other girl wrote it), but MY daughter brought it to school. they gave a copy to the other girl’s mother (this violates the privacy law here). additionally, i am thinking the letter is in her permanent record. i believe it belongs to me and they need to return it. i will assume that the incident reports can stay, but the letter should be returned (it was bad). if they take your phone (which this a.p. did reach into her purse and take hers!), i had to pay $15 to get it back. i got the bracelettes back. everything comes back. do they have a right to keep this note? they even suspended the other girl when MY daughter brought the gerbil to school! we have finally figured it out. they never even knew my daughter was there until she began hanging out with this girl. i asked for a schedule change, the counselor said yes, the principal said no. the law says that she can have one if it doesn’t cause another student to be moved — it didn’t. they also told me this girl’s sister was sent to boot camp for buying pot (also a violation of their privacy). i can’t get this mother to back me, she is uneducated and doesn’t want to act like anything is wrong. i told her that her daughter shouldn’t have been suspended! while sitting in detention, this girl wrote a bad/sexual letter regarding this same a.p. and passed it to my daughter!! i found it in my daughter’s purse! my daughter loves detention. she says the teacher really helps you, it’s like having a private tutor. also, they go to p.e., play games, and lunch! gee, who would want to go to class??
anyway, i’m rambling. do you think i have a right to retrieve this letter from her file? i have recorded most conversations with these people (here, it is legal to record a conversation as long as one person is aware — dumb, but true) — they always change their story when someone is witnessing what is going on. i have a call in to go over her complete record. this is where i will come up against them when i want to get the note/letter. i need to have laws and rules to back myself up. do they have the right to keep the letter — just because it’s a letter? we want to get her into a private school and away from this. although i can probably explain a lot of this away (a gerbil is hardly a weapon), i do not want this letter in her file. i’m afraid this will keep her from being excepted. i have already gotten letters from her teachers saying that she is a good girl and not disruptive. we believe she has just been labeled. how should i go about beginning to try to get this paper. i am willing to pay a lawyer to write a letter if i have to. this girl is not allowed at our house, but i can’t follow her around at school. she is changing my daughter’s whole personality. we have to do something to straighten out this year and get her into a new situation. thanks.
Sue those bastards.