The Associated Press reports on a ruling by the Indianapolis Court of Appeals that a student’s rants about a school principal on her MySpace page were political speech and ruled in her favor versus the school. Considering the number of MySpace stories we’ve had of late, largely stemming from the apparent absence of clear direction from the courts about jurisdiction, this is an interesting development that may have some long term effects on the viability of zero tolerance policies around speech-related offenses.
Thanks to David for the tip. If you have a tip, please email us at tips@zerointelligence.net.
Streaking incident ends in suspension
A Washington Township High School (East Porter County School Corporation) student was suspended for streaking at Lace Central High School in Valparaiso, despite the action occuring outside of school hours and outside of his school district.
Although the streaker was not on school grounds, the event did not happen during school hours and did not involve any of the corporation’s schools, East Porter County was well within its legal right to suspend the student. Indiana law allows a school corporation to punish a student in violation of a school policy anywhere at any time, according to Dana Long, assistant director for legal services at the Indiana Department of Education.
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Teen suing FWCS over T-shirt
Updated 14 March 2005: District Court rules in favor of student. Details at bottom of post.
Alan Newsome just finished his court battle with a settlement. Nathan Griggs is just starting his own very similar suit.
A 16-year-old Elmhurst High School sophomore and his father are suing Fort Wayne Community Schools over a dress code policy that saw the boy suspended for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the likeness of an M-16 rifle and the text of the Marine Corps creed.
The shirt with the Marine Core creed (creed text shown at bottom of post) is a violation of the dress code (dress code shown at bottom of post) and nobody is arguing that. The problem is the dress code itself. Similar to the Virginia case, the dress code bars things like the State Seal as well as emblems from local sports teams.
This dress code is too broadly defined and this is where the problem surfaced. In an effort to define everything that could possibly be improper the code includes many items that it does not intend to. The best solution? There are two obvious ones. The better one would be to scale back the dress code and use common sense when enforcing it. Another would be to implement a uniform dress code.
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No Child Left Behind was created with the best of intentions - to identify bad schools and give parents the option to send their children elsewhere. NCLB rankings are determined by statistics and statistics can be manipulated. Attendance ratings play a part in these scores. They also have a real and immediate effect on money - schools get paid based on how many students are attending. Gae Fowler encountered a school administration at Maxwell Middle School in the Greenfield-Central School District that was far more concerned with funding and achieving a better attendance rating than it was with providing her daughter with an education.
My daughter is in the seventh grade at a school that was once rated as a four star school. The school is trying to get their four star rating back at all costs. My daughter has been ill quite a bit this year and at this point the doctors believe that it is a mono type illness. I’ve been harassed constantly because I have a sick daughter! She has missed quite a bit but I have sent doctors notes as required by the school. After the first week, I received a call from the principal of the school. He stated that they are trying to get their “rating” back and attendance is an important part. He said that parents can be prosecuted if they don’t send their children to school. I asked if he wanted me to send her to school with a fever. He said no, but I could send her and she can go to the nurse and if she’s running a fever and they’ll send her home.
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Protest letter brings suspension for Willowcreek sixth-grader
Updated 31 January 2005: Superintendent overrules principal, suspension revoked. (Details at bottom of post.)
Tyler Zilz, a sixth-grader at Willowcreek Middle School disagreed with new school rules that prevented students from socializing before school and during lunch periods. With the help of his older brother he wrote a three page letter and distributed copies.
�We, as a student body, we are strong,� Zilz wrote. �We are also intelligent enough to realize an unfair judgment when we see it.�
He encouraged students to wear white shirts and blue pants this week to protest. Reports have filtered out that some students are following the protest dress.
�I will not resort to anything violent or improper,� Zilz wrote.
Andrew Halaschak, school principal and designer of the restrictive rules, gave Zilz a one day in-school suspension for “interfering with the educational process”.
(Tip credit to Tori in Texas)
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Student Suspended Over ‘Hit List’
An 8th grade student at Clay Middle School got angry after being caught passing notes in class. He wrote the names of eight students and an administrator in his notebook and titled the page Hit List.
[Kent DeKoninck, school principal] says he really had no choice but to suspend the eighth grader after a teacher found the student with a hit list.
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DeKoninck says the student on Thursday morning admitted to being angry and writing the list. Students were sent home with copies of this letter explaining the incident to parents. It also says the student could be expelled.
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Updated 10 January 2004: ‘Peanut free zone’ compromise reached (details at bottom of post)
School ‘Peanut Gallery’ Raises Eyebrows
One first grader at Central Indiana’s Pleasant View Elementary School has a peanut allergy. To protect this single student anybody who wishes to eat a PB&J is relegated to a special peanut table. Soon they will be forced into a segregated ‘peanut gallery’.
School Superintendent Mary Ann Irwin called it “one of the most challenging” accommodations the school has made for its students.
“I think everybody realizes [that] as parents we’re advocates for our children and no one wants this young man to be endangered,” Irwin said. “We want all our kids to feel that this is a normal environment, that nobody is ostracized for any reason, whether you bring peanut butter or whether you don’t have peanut butter.”
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Schools learn to laud the good
Some Carolina schools are looking at themselves and their neighbors and are beginning to realize that zero tolerance and concentration on punitive measures doesn’t work very well.
Kids suffer academically when suspended from school, [Russell Skiba, an Indiana University education professor] said. Even factoring in issues such as poverty and race, Indiana schools with higher suspension rates saw 49 percent of their students pass state exams — compared with 58 percent of the kids at schools with lower suspension rates.
“You put kids out of school, those kids come back, and they haven’t learned anything,” said Skiba, who wrote a report called “Zero Tolerance, Zero Evidence.” “You just get into an endless loop.”
Studies show schools write more than half their office referrals for only about 6 percent of the students. If that kind of discipline worked, some argue, the same kids wouldn’t continue to misbehave. Getting tough is more likely to create anger and resentment, said Diann Irwin, of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, who coordinates the state’s positive behavior program.
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Boy faces expulsion after attending religious festival
Lowell Middle School allows five days of excused absence per semester. A student exceeding that limit faces possible expulsion. Only one of those days is available for religious observance.
Ruth Scheidt said Lowell Middle School officials had her 12-year-old son sign a letter last month stating he understood that he could be expelled if he missed another day of school for any reason before the end of the semester in January.
The family had just returned from an out-of-state, eight-day religious observance called the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated by the United Church of God.
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Female Student Accused of Writing Hit List - Indiana. A freshman at West Vigo High School is accused of making a hit list with over 40 names on it. She will likely be expelled.
Middletown Student Discovered With A “Hit List” - Ohio. A student at Middletown High School made a hit list and it was discovered by another student. He was immediately removed from the school property and suspended. He faces expulsion and criminal charges.
Channelview “hit list” student pleads guilty - Texas. Channelview High School junior Christopher Hayes made a list. He was suspended and charged with several counts including making a terrorist threat. He plead guilty and was fined $300 and sentenced to two years of probation.
Lely student on probation after plea agreement - Florida. Elwood June and two other Lely High School students were accused of plotting an attack on their school. Elwood had a hit list. The boys were expelled and faced felony criminal charges. Elwood is on probation until he turns 19 and will be performing 100 hours of community service.
Joplin student removed from school for making ‘hit list’ - Missouri. A 14 year old girl at Joplin High School made a list with 16 people on it. She’s in police custody.
‘Hit list’ turns up at school - California. Two boys, 17 and 16 years old, made a list. They are being held at Riverside County Juvenile Hall, charged with felonies.
Two students expelled for creating ‘hit list’ - Michigan. Three boys were involved in this list. Two were expelled. The other is a special needs student so will have punishment fitting the convoluted laws involved there.
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