I recently reported on the case of a student expelled because two other students accused him of having brought a gun to school the previous day. He was expelled for a year despite no actual gun being found.
I have now had the opportunity to speak to the expelled student and his mother, although the mother has asked that they remain anonymous. They reiterated their assertions that the boy did not bring a gun to school and claim that he neither owns nor have access to a gun at all.
The cell phone message left by one of the accusers was played for both the principal and Officer King, an employee of the sheriff’s department that is regularly stationed at the school. According to the boy, he was told that the threat was irrelevant to the accusation and that he should take that to the police separately. Unfortunately, he didn’t, but I can’t really blame him after his experience with authority figures refusing to listen.
In an interesting turn of events, one of the accusers has since been expelled from school, presumably for an unrelated interest, and is at the same alternative high school as the boy he accused. I have to wonder if Mr. Byrnes would still feel as confident in the veracity of the accuser considering his other expulsion-worthy activities. I can only wonder because Mr. Byrnes chose not to return my call.
Of course, the school board’s view is only based on a reading of what the principal decided, as it turns out that the school board chose not to even hear the appeal. Instead, they read the principal’s report and chose to support the principal’s decision. The accused wasn’t given an opportunity to establish any credibility with the school board directly. Mr. Byrnes parallel to a court of law is even weaker than it previously appeared.
Based on what I’ve been able to learn, I don’t think this is about an alleged gun at all. The accused is not a model student, as he gets Bs and Cs for his grades and has had some other trouble, although minor compared to a gun charge. We know that schools are under enormous pressure to show academic success. I think Mr. Vaughn saw an opportunity to rid himself of a mediocre student and raise, however, slightly the statistical performance at his school. Confronted with leaving no child behind, he has shunted a child to somewhere else where he need not deal with it further, all based on hearsay. This isn’t leadership, but avoidance.
Tosheena Robinson-Blair of The Daily News Journal of Murfreesboro, Tennessee reports on a student’s expulsion based purely on eyewitness testimony of two other students who reported the expelled student had brought a gun to school the previous day. The incident took place at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
According to Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans, Oakland Principal Butch Vaughn found the two students, who reported the incident, to be credible.
“This matter went through all levels of appeal, and they didn’t overturn it either, based on the evidence presented. The reason why we couldn’t find the gun is they reported it the day after they saw it,” Evans said.
“With zero tolerance you don’t have to have a history. We understand that students from time to time make up stories about other students, but that’s what the principals are there for — to determine if the students are telling the truth or not.”
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Teen suspended after discussing racial tension at Blount school
Updated 29 April, 2004: Expulsion hearing results in early return to school. Details at bottom of post.
William Blount High School in the Blount County School District was locked down earlier this month when administrators found a hit list and a wall covered with racial graffiti. Last week Bridget O’Neill, a junior, was interviewed by News6 about the racial tension at the school. During the interview she told the station that she had seen one of her classmates make a racial sign. The school retaliated by suspending her for “disrupting the classroom and providing false information about the sign”.
Her parents say the next morning [after the interview], the principal [Christy Martin] pulled Bridget into the office demanding to know why she talked to the media and who made the sign.
“She was screaming at her she was stupid,” says Bridget’s mother, Diane O’Neill. “They threatened to expel her for the rest of the year because she wouldn’t give the name. Then she threatened to call the police. And she was like, ‘why?’ She said, ‘Well, I’m going to have you arrested for standing in the way of justice.’”
Bridget faces an expulsion hearing this Thursday.
School Administration:
Director of Schools Alvin Hord
Assistant Director of Schools David Cook
Blount County School Board:
Chris Cantrell
John Davis
Charles Finley
Don McNelly
William Miller
Donald L.Talbott
Mike Treadway
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5 East students expelled
What’s a good way to force students to inform on their peers? Expel them when they don’t. Two students of Morristown-Hamblen High School East in the Hamblen County School District were just expelled for failing to turn in their friends.
The administrative investigation into the recent bomb threats at Morristown-Hamblen High School East resulted in the expulsion of five East High students Monday, Dr. Dale Lynch, director of schools said this morning.
The students were expelled from the Hamblen County school system for one calendar year following a due-process hearing involving their parents or legal guardians, according to Lynch.
Last week, police charged one female and two male students with one or more felony counts of making a false report for allegedly calling in bomb threats to East High on Jan. 28, Feb. 16 and Feb. 22.
The two other East High students did not make a false bomb threat, but allegedly were with the suspects when a call was made, and failed to notify school administration or police, according to Lynch.
These two students did nothing, and were expelled for it. Can you imagine the uproar if this concept was forced into the real world? How would you like to get a ticket because you saw somebody run a red light and failed to call the police? How about spending some time behind bars because you didn’t report that friend who occasionally smokes marijuana?
With this action the school is transferring criminal culpability to the witnesses of a crime. The only way to stay safe is to tattle on everybody for everything.
Joshua Smith Case Bound To Grand Jury
Joshua Smith was a student at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. He allegedly broke into school property to get information on some students who were flirting with his girlfriend. That’s some serious stuff and he is being charged in criminal court for it. It’s not what is going to get him expelled though.
County school officials said…”The police officer also searched the student�s car, which was on campus, and discovered a set of collectors� knives. The student was then placed under arrest.
“CSAS Principal Steve Ball has recommended the student be expelled for one calendar year under the district�s zero tolerance policy, which is also a part of state and federal law. The student has the right to appeal the administration�s decision.”
The quoted school official needs to brush up on his laws. There is no federal law regarding knives at school. The Gun Free Schools Act, which is what he is trying to refer to, deals with working firearms. Tennessee state law provides Principals with the power to suspend a student for up to 10 days for possession of a knife but does not mandate expulsion.
The CSAS zero tolerance policy goes well above and beyond any legal mandates. In this case it will mandate a year long expulsion for having collector’s knives in a locked car.
Earring gets 8th graders expelled from Clinton Middle School
Updated 22 November 2004: Expulsion overruled. Info at bottom of post.
Updated 18 Nov: Actual ZT policy found. Linked and excerpted at bottom of post.
Clinton Middle School expelled three eighth grade boys for violating their zero tolerance policy on dangerous weapons. On Tuesday Alan Vanhuss put in an earring during school with the assistance of two friends. The ear was already pierced but Vanhuss was worried that the hole might have been closing up.
“He just hadn’t been wearing an earring in that one ear and checked it yesterday for some reason at school to see if was growed up,” Teresa Vanhuss said.
Harold Jackson and another student helped. All three have now been expelled for one calendar year, the minimum punishment for violating Anderson County Schools zero tolerance policy.
“I came over to make sure it was all the way through and I touched it to make sure it was all the way through and she caught us and whatever,” Jackson said.
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School Honor Rolls Under Privacy Scrutiny
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The school honor roll, a time-honored system for rewarding A-students, has become an apparent source of embarrassment for some underachievers.
As a result, all Nashville schools have stopped posting honor rolls, and some are also considering a ban on hanging good work in the hallways — all at the advice of school lawyers.
How dare we celebrate excellence? Why, if you tell somebody that they are doing a good job, the people who you don’t tell that to might feel bad.
It gets worse though.
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