Maloney student and mom say penalty is excessive
Mark Padilla, 17, has been expelled from Francis T. Maloney High School [Meriden School District] for 180 days following a closed door school council vote. Padilla had been part of a profanity strewn argument with assistant track coach Thomas Pepe.
On May 4, Mark Padilla said he was doing exercises at track practice when Pepe, the assistant coach, came over to help the boys with their starting positions. Padilla said Pepe was holding a high jump pole at the time. Padilla made a suggestion to Pepe and the coach started screaming at him to “shut the fâ€â€- up” and “get the fâ€â€- away,” he said. The student responded, and the two were swearing at each other. Padilla said he felt threatened as Pepe held up the pole and stared at him.
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Student expelled, group says race played role
Dan Moncrease was a student at West Haven High School in the West Haven Public School District. He had a clean disciplinary record and played on the school football team. After an altercation with a teacher where he threw down his book bag he was suspended and then expelled.
Video from a school camera shows the incident. 18-year-old Dan Moncrease is walking the halls without a pass. Moncrease gets upset and throws his book bag near a teacher standing next to a cop.
“I admit I got out of hand,” says Dan Moncrease. “I threw my book bag, but I had no intention of hitting the teacher.”
The video shows the junior being arrested. He was initially suspended for ten days but later the Board of Education decided to expel him for 180 days with the stipulation he can go to an alternative school in his senior year.
He is also banned from playing football.
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New Britain student disciplined for profanities on Web site
Administrators at New Britain High School in the New Britain Consolidated School District don’t believe that their authority stops at the school door. They have suspended and disciplined senior student Daniel Gostin, 18, for the contents of his personal website.
A New Britain High School drum major has enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut after he was disciplined for posting a profanity-laced entry in an online journal.
Daniel Gostin, 18, a senior, was stripped of his drum major position, given an in-school suspension and barred from participating in music-related extracurricular activities and performances for the remainder of the year.
The posting in question was a rant aimed primarily at the band director for canceling several band activities. Gostin’s lawyers will be demanding his disciplinary record be expunged and that he be reinstated in the school band.
Contact information:
Superintendent of Schools Doris Kurtz
Principal Dr. Thomas Reale
(Tip credit to Bumper)
Four South Windsor students sent home for anti-gay T-shirts
Early last week students at South Windsor High School in the South Windsor School District participated in the Day of Silence, a project organized by the national Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. On that day participating students refuse to speak; a symbolic gesture meant to highlight discrimination and harassment toward homosexuals. The school accommodates these silent students and the project. Last Friday a group of four students wore T-shirts with a contrary message and were sent home.
The boys, who wore white T-shirts with the statement, “Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve,” say their constitutional right to free speech was violated.
“We were just voicing our opinions,” said Steven Vendetta, who made the T-shirts with his friends, Kyle Shinfield, David Grimaldi and another student who was not identified by the Journal Inquirer of Manchester. “We didn’t tell other people to think what we’re thinking. We just told them what we think.”
The t-shirts also had bible verses pertaining to homosexuality. Other students claimed to be frightened and threatened by the shirts. They sparked conversation and debate that started to get out of hand. Instead of moderating, Principal John DiIorio sent the boys home.
See Precinct 333 for an in depth analysis of this scholastic failure.
Legislator asks leniency for boy suspended over knife
A fourth-grade student at Wakelee Elementary School in the Wolcott School District was suspended for 10 days for violating the school’s zero tolerance policy against weapons. His mother had packed a Boy Scout utensil kit with his lunch.
His mother, Rebecca Glendening, said she thought she had removed the knife attached to the kit, but instead she had mistakenly removed a can-opener tool.
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[State Rep. John] Mazurek, D-Wolcott, is asking Wolcott school officials to reconsider the 10-day-suspension.
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The boy did not violate the policy; his mother did, Mazurek wrote Thursday in a letter to Board of Education members.
“What possibly good could come out of this boy serving a 10-day suspension?” wrote Mazurek
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Teens suspended from school after off-campus party
Administrators at East Lyme High in the East Lyme School District suspended students who were caught partying in a hotel room. The students were suspended from 3 to 10 days for their off-campus activities.
It is not in the student handbook but Superintendent of Schools Jack Reynolds says state statute allows schools to expel or suspend students if their actions off campus significantly affect other students at the school.
“It’s hopefully a message to all kids that really dangerous behavior is something that all of us as responsible adults should be saying it shouldn’t be condoned. It shouldn’t be winked at,” says Reynolds.
Just how does an off-campus party significantly affect other students at the school?
Additional contact: Principal Lawrence Roberts
(Tip credit to Tori in Texas)
9 year-old Justin Pardee has been suspended for three days for sexual harassment. Sexual harassment. 9 years old. Say what?
Kids play, or foul play at recess? School Superintendent Ed Favolise tells News Channel 8 no teachers actually witnessed the tag game. He says the girl told her teacher later in the day Justin had touched her backside twice during recess.
In a statement Favolise said “the incident violates our zero tolerance policy. The punishment fits the crime. After a thorough investigation we found cause to suspend the young man. That sort of behavior is inappropriate and we do not condone it.”
The kids were playing tag and Justin tagged her on the butt. You could say it’s inappropriate touching and maybe take Justin aside and talk to him about it but to call this sexual harassment is patently ridiculous.
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A revised attendance policy has been designed to tackle the issue of truancy at Masuk High School.
Here we have another example of a school trying to solve attendance problems by flunking their students.
With the new policy, students potentially could receive 50 percent, or a failing grade, if they accumulate seven or more points per quarter. It would cover absences that are both excused and unexcused.
Under the new plan, excused absences would include illness, death, college visits and family obligations, in�cluding vacations. Students would receive one point for every class missed.
Proper documentation, including doctors’ notes, would be required for all excused absences. Students would receive three points for unexcused absences, such as cutting class. Two tardies would receive one point.
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Thompson school board adopts revised drug policy
Students at the Thompson Public Schools who use illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco could be suspended or expelled from school under revised guidelines approved Monday night.
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The new policy states “the use, sale, distribution or possession of controlled drugs, controlled substances, drug paraphernalia or alcohol and tobacco on or off school property or during any school sponsored activity is prohibited.”
As we know, prescription drugs are controlled substances. This policy as written would cover inhalers and similar items. It also covers students when they are not at school or under the care and authority of the school system. Taken literally, a student who takes a puff on his inhaler under his doctor’s guidance is violating this rule.
