Student Takes Photos Of Principal Smoking On School Grounds
Student photographs principal smoking on school grounds
Updated 24 March 2005: Student reinstated. Update at bottom of post.
Smoking within 25 feet of a school is illegal in Rhode Island. Eliazar Velasquez, a sophomore at Central High School in the Providence Public School District, took pictures of Principal Elaine Elmagno smoking just outside an open school door. Elmagno suspended him indefinitely last Friday.
“I walked right by her and acted like I was leaving as she was lighting up her cigarette and I hid behind the wall,” said Eliazar Velasquez, who was suspended. “And I just stuck the camera out behind the wall and that�s how I got the shots of her smoking.”
Velasquez took the pictures of his principal, Elaine Elmagno, who was allegedly smoking on school grounds in front of an open door, and posted them on an Internet Web site to show others the principal he calls a “hypocrite.”
Velasquez was suspended for harassing and slandering the principal and for being a disruptive influence.
Contact Information:
Principal Elaine Elmagno
Superintendent Dr. Melody Johnson
School Board President Mary McClure
School Board Vice President Milton W. Hamolsky, M.D.
School Boardmember Dilania Inoa
School Boardmember Umberto Crenca
School Boardmember Robyn Frye
School Boardmember Grace Gonzalez
School Boardmember Maila Touray
School Boardmember Robert Wise
(Tip credit to Bettina and Jack Mitcham)
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Police: Students, both 11, had knife at school
Two 11 year-old boys were suspended from Woonsocket Middle School in the Woonsocket School District for possession of a Leatherman multi-tool.
The knife, part of a stainless steel folding Leatherman tool, was found in possession of one of the youths and, after an investigation, the second youth said to have brought it into the building was also identified, police said.
Both boys were suspended from school pending a hearing before the school committee and will also face review by the Police Department�s juvenile unit over the infraction of the state�s “zero tolerance” policy on weapons in school, according to police.
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School suspends 14 over explicit rap CD
14 students at Johnston High School made a rap CD. The lyrics were typical of modern gangsta rap and included topics like binge drinking, drug use and sex. Although they did this on their own and used no school resources the school has decided it has governing power over their private lives and has suspended all of them.
[Johnston Public] Schools Supt. Margaret Iacovelli said a four-day investigation into who made the CD ended yesterday, when the students involved were given five-day suspensions, and ordered to perform 10 hours of community service and receive some in-school sensitivity training.
“We had to address the disruption at the school that the CD caused,” Iacovelli said. “We looked at it in a different light because it also disrupted the community. So we gave them 10 hours of community service to help repair that damage.”
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Zero tolerance for common sense
On Wednesday a sixth grader at Woonsocket Middle School peeled an orange during lunch. Unfortunately he did this with a knife. Even more unfortunately the knife he did it with was brought from home.
The 13-year-old was charged by police with possession of a weapon in school, which is a violation of state law. He was also suspended from school for 10 days and told that he must plead guilty during a hearing before a disciplinary panel before he will be allowed to return to his classroom.
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