COVER- This boy’s lawsuit: Alan Newsom’s $150,000 t-shirt
Updated 27 Feb 2004: Case settled (detail at bottom of post)
This is a developed story so I’ll give you the bullet points.
- Alan Newsome (then 11 years old) went to NRA Shooting Sports Camp over the summer break.
- Alan wore his camp t-shirt to school. The T-shirt has 3 shooters in sillhouette on the back along with the words “NRA Shooting Sports Camp”.
- Assistant Principal Betty Pitt made him turn it inside out. She said it was against school policy and intimated that he would be suspended if he didn’t remove it.
- After verifying that it was not against school policy, Alan (with the help of a local NRA chapter) asked for an apology.
- The school refused to apologize and revised their dress code to prohibit any depiction of weapons. This policy is broad enough to made it a violation to wear clothing featuring the state seal, local sports teams, etc.
- Alan is now suing for violation of his first amendment rights.
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‘Inch long’ toy gun causes big trouble
Updated 27 Feb 2004: Student allowed to return to school
A third-grader at Sun Valley Elementary was suspended this week for bringing a G.I. Joe toy handgun to school.
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“It’s about an inch long,” said Vicki Stewart, the boy’s grandmother and guardian. “(The principal) had to tape it to a piece of paper to keep from losing it.”
This is a Class III violation and punishments include expulsion and alternative school. Seems this violent third grader violated the rules by possessing a “weapon firearm replica”. A clearcut violation of the student code of conduct. Is GI Joe toy abuse becoming an epidemic? You may recall a similar situation last month where an 8-year old in Washington was suspended for bringing two of these terrifying and dangerous items to school.
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Middle school expulsions agitate debate on zero tolerance
Updated 25 Feb 2004: School board meets, retains policies. Details at bottom of post.
The Inverness School Board has expelled 19 students so far this year. Only 4 were high school students.
The effect of zero tolerance on middle school students is among the topics the School Board is expected to take up Tuesday as it gets its first shot to discuss the upcoming 2004-05 Student Code of Conduct, the document that sets out disciplinary rules for the district.
School officials discussing updates to the code have targeted the issue. They have suggested extending to middle schools the same language in the code which allows elementary school principals to exercise discretion in choosing punishment for students found with alcohol and drugs.
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Lawmakers Look at Tying Drivers Licenses to School Attendance
Bill linking driver’s licenses to school attendance advances
The House Education Policy Committee approved the bill on a divided voice vote Tuesday morning that would revoke drivers licenses of students under age 18 who have seven or more unexcused absences from school.
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Boy, 6, Suspended For Taking Toy Swords to School
How long should a 6 year-old student be suspended for bringing toy ninja weapons to school? At James River Elementary School they count that as a 10 day offense. Weapons are weapons whether they are razor sharp swords or clunky plastic. At least he wasn’t arrested.
A teacher at discovered the plastic weapons Monday morning, says Maj. Stan Stout of the James City County Police Department. No charges will be filed because it’s not illegal to have toy weapons.
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Guns not illegal in schools
“The federal Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 defines a firearm as any weapon designed to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.” That’s a pretty reasonable definition. Schools take that a lot farther, broadening the definition to include BB guns, replicas, toys, even water pistols.
“You don�t look very good when you suspend a third-grader, but you�ve got to consider the safety of 500 students,” said Dave O�Connor, principal of Marston School in Hampton.
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The Hampstead School District, which suspended two eighth-graders for having a plastic pellet gun and pelting other students on a school bus, has a policy that broadens the federal definition of a weapon to include “any device, object or artifact that has been determined by the Superintendent of Schools to be dangerous … and also determined to have no other legitimate purpose in school.”
The Exeter Region Cooperative School District also has a broad policy prohibiting devices designed to expe* any type of projectile,” whether a lead bullet or rubber suction dart.
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Parents attack bathroom policy
Updated 19 Feb 2004
Lawrence, NJ middle schoolers are now limited to 15 bathroom breaks a month. In an effort to limit bathroom problems the school is now locking restrooms between classes and regulating the number of times each student may use the facilities.
As a result, some are afraid to use up their bathroom passes too quickly and end up with a full bladder and nowhere to go.
Some girls feel an even greater need to stockpile their passes so they have them at their disposal when they menstruate, parents say.
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The Virginia House of Representatives has recently passed a bill (HB 513) to the Senate Committee on Education. This bill started out as a decent legislative attempt to correct problems with school discipline and repercussions to students. Unfortunately, the most promising portion of the original bill, a student’s right to defend against an attacker, was struck from the version approved by the House. The applicable section:
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Expelled students may not be able to go back to school
The St.Clair Day Program’s purpose is to rehabilitate problem students and get them back into the schools. The problem? The school isn’t taking all of the program graduates back.
While several students have been recently expelled from the school system, two have been expelled and have not been able to re-enter, despite having completed requirements at the St. Clair Day Program.
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Good sense trumps rules in Brockton
Kudos to Brockton School Superintendent Joseph Bage. The Brockton 7th and 8th grade hockey players were ivited to participate in “Friendship Series 2004″ at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. That entails a week-long trip to Canada. The problem was the school policy saying five absences in one term earn a student an automatic failing grade in every class.
Bage listened to parent and student requests and made an exception to the policy to allow the students to attend the series without automatically flunking school.
School Department officials were initially hesitant to grant the exemption. Absenteeism is a problem in Brockton and Bage, concerned about keeping up attendance at the junior high and high school levels, didn’t want to create precedents for students leaving school in favor of trips and outside activities.
But in consideration of the unusually circumstances and value of the trip for the students, he relented.
Bage didn’t capitulate on parents’ request that the players’ older siblings be given the same dispensation. But the compromise was fair and it demonstrated a flexibility that is too often “absent.”
It’s so refreshing to see items like this. Congratulations to Brockton and thanks to Mr.Bage!
