NHS student expelled Thursday
Newport School District
Anthony Walker, a Newport High School senior, was expelled under the school’s zero tolerance drug policy. He was carrying medicine that had been prescribed following extraction of his wisdom teeth.
Walker advised the board that he had begun to take his medication on the morning in question but, needing to eat something before taking it, ran out of time as the school bus approached.
He said he attempted to eat breakfast at school and take his medication but was unable to eat the hard cereal served in the school’s cafeteria. Walker decided to wait until lunch to take his medication hoping something softer would be served.
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Crossett Board Puts Suspension Policy In Student Handbook
The Crossett School Board has finally approved updating the Student Handbook to include its suspension policy. The policy was approved over a year and a half ago. This procrastination is bad enough but the policy itself is even worse.
Under the policy, principals can suspend a student for violating district policy, and an appeal can only be made to the superintendent, not to the school board. According to Robert Cornelius, the board only gets involved concerning expulsions.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Crossett Board crafted a suspension policy that excludes them from the decision making and appeals processes. I wish I could do this at my job. Wait, maybe I can. Using the Crossett Method I’ll just change the policies to exclude myself from my job responsibilities. I’ll actually update the published policies in a year or so to let everybody know about the changes.
Greenwood: Students test free speech in U.S. court
Two seniors in the Greenwood school district set up personal web sites. These sites contained “Derogatory comments and cartoons lampooning Greenwood school officials”. They were sentenced with and served 3 days of suspension each. The boys have gone to court seeking an order that will prevent school administration from punishing them for future commentary not conducted at school.
[School] officials counter that with violent incidents in schools nationwide in the recent years, the Web site con- tent created an atmosphere of fear and threat and disrupted classes in the 740-student high school. The two sides presented their arguments Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren in a one-day bench trial. He took the testimony under advisement and said he would issue a ruling after attorneys submitted written post-trial arguments, which are due by Jan. 17. Court pleadings said the Web sites were created on the students� home computers and were not connected with the school.
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Region 8 Student Challenges Graduation Dress Policy
Doniphan Jr. High has an unwritten dress policy for its graduation ceremonies. The dress for girls is dresses (or long skirts). No pants allowed to the female students. 8th grader heather Williams disagreed and did something about it.
“Girls should not have to wear dresses to be able to do something big,” said Williams.
…Williams’ mother Tracie Turner contacted the American Civil Liberties Union in St. Louis for help.
“The student was told that she would not be allowed to participate in any graduation activities unless she was wearing a dress. Not only would she not be able to walk in the processional, but she would not be able to sit with her fellow graduates and they would not even read her name at graduation. Essentially erasing her from the roll of graduates,” said Denise Lieberman of the ACLU.
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