South Florida expels hit list students left and right
7th-Grader Suspended After Hit List Found Online
4th-Grader Suspended For Having Hit List
Two young students at different schools in the Miami-Dade School System were recently suspended for having hit lists. They had several things in common: they were not serious about threatening anybody, they were the victims of bullies and they never actually did anything threatening or violent.
On the 7th grader:
A student at Southwood Middle School in southwest Miami-Dade County was arrested after being accused of posting a hit list online.
…
“We moved immediately to suspend the student and take him out of the school and moved to have him expelled. We are proceeding with the expulsion and cooperating with the police, who are investigating,” Joseph Garcia, of Miami-Dade Public Schools, said.Students describe the boy accused of writing the hit list as a gifted, intelligent seventh-grader who has been picked on in the past.
Suspend immediately. Expel ASAP. Complete the investigation whenever. Some people say that school administrations are treating students like criminals. If only that were so. Then they’d at least get the benefits of real due process.
On the 4th grader:
Investigators on Wednesday questioned a student from Lorah Park who was suspended and arrested for having an alleged hit list at his school.
…
Kids said both students and teachers were on the list made by a 10-year-old, who is in the 4th grade. The school board said it knows of only students listed.
…
School Board member Ana Rivas-Logan, who was once an assistant high school principal, supports a new anti-bullying campaign that trains staff to identify children who are upset and who may be at risk of acting out in a way one might think would be beyond their capacity.
A ten year-old victim arrested for making a list of the people terrorizing him. I wonder if anything will be done about the bullies?
Contact Information:
Superintendent Dr. Rudolph F. Crew
Southwood Principal Kristal Hickmon
Lorah Park Principal Mattye Jones
Again….. it is not normal to have a hit list. This kid needs help. If we wait until he does something it is too late. In this country any one can get a gun if they try hard enough, so we can’t let him kill some people and then prosecute.
I posted on the other story about a kid expelled for a hit list. The problem in many of these cases is that the school has reduced its authority to that of the bullies. They never punish the aggressors, but the kids who always follow the rules get to bear the full weight of these ludicrous policies. If the schoold weren’t so damn afraid of political incorrectness or (gasp!) actual discipline, then the bullies would relize that their actions are wrong. Moreover, the kids who are always victimised need to do more than take names. They follow the school’s example, doing nothing to the bullies, except writing down their names, hoping to think of something to do to them later. The bullies, however, have this all figured out. They beat up on the little guy, knowing that the most they’ll get is a slap on the wrist. If the little guy tries to fight back, the school will come down on him like a ton of bricks, vindicating the bully.
Yes, this kid needs help. The hit list is not normal, but neither is the kid getting bullied. For whatever reason, the bullied ecided that he was the “odd one out,” thus ending his normal-hood. When you’re not quite normal, your actions are also not quite normal. So yes, he needs help. Maybe in the form of martial arts classes or athletic training. He needs confidence to keep the bullies at bay, as well as fluency in the only language bullies understand… violence. You can’t reason with bullies. You can only “inform” them that they are no longer the alpha male and that their antics are not acceptable.
I’m sure there are teachers and administrators who use aggressive children to target kids. In some cases they consider it a ‘natural consequence’, in other cases it’s a socially supported action that is orchestrated through the administration gossiping to parents. Bullies are a vessel of fanning the fires of social rage that does not reflect on the staff. These bullies know they will get in tons of trouble for distroying school property, but physically assaulting another child is OK.
I know of cases where nearly 100 7th grade boys were put in a locker room daily without supervision and the teacher just srugged and explained that she was not allowed in there because she was female. Reporting a problem in the locker room was a sure way to bring on the rage of the administration. My pediatrition expressed concern at the high level of injuries coming out of the school. Reporting these problems it a sure way to make your child a target.
[sarcasm]
i thought bulling was declining in schools.
[/sarcasm]
maybe the administrators were bullies when they were kids?