Students’ fun with helium no lightweight prank
Two Gilbert students ran afoul of District policy while setting up for a school dance. They took some of the helium filled balloons and sucked in the gas to talk funny. The drug abusing teens were suspended for five days (later reduced to one day).
District spokeswoman Dianne Bowers said that school principals have the option to suspend students pending further investigation.
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District policy prohibits non-medical use of drugs, including inhalants.
Helium is a drug? And these students were given unmonitored access to it? The school administrators should be up on charges of endangering, corrupting and contributing to the delinquency of these minors. They went so far as to supply this inhalant drug in pressurized delivery devices. Talk about facilitating drug abuse!
In related news, Gilbert Police have declared the town park clean and safe after the arrest of notorious helium balloon pusher “Bubbles” the Clown. Bubbles and his helium supplier were taken down in a massive tri-county sting operation.
(Tip credit to Jack Mitcham)
Teen Suspended for Smoke Smell
Salem High School has a very strict no-smoking policy. It’s so strict that merely smelling like smoke has 17 year-old Amanda Bates serving 5 days of suspension.
�She was not caught smoking, she was accused of smelling like smoke and put on five days� suspension for that reason,� [Amanda’s father Carlton] added.
Salem�s principal Robert Cresswell stood by the school�s policy.
�Basically the girl smelled very strongly of smoke and we handled it as consistently and fair [sic] as we normally handle things,� he said.
Cresswell said the rules were no smoking or possession of smoking paraphernalia on campus. Smelling like smoke is not a violation but �we assume if you smell strongly of smoke, you�ve been smoking,� he said.
We should also assume that if you fail the most basic logic test that you will not be able to run a school successfully. Driving into school with a smoker, simply talking with somebody while they are smoking, going to the bathroom that is full of smokers…it is very easy for a non-smoker to smell like smoke.
Cresswell’s assumptions may be consistent but they are most certainly not fair.
(Tip credit to Mary Cahill and Stephen)
10th grader in trouble over ‘Juicy’ skirt
10th grader Nichoel Hawks ran afoul of the school dress code with a skirt from the “Juicy” brand. The slogan “It’s all about Juicy” written across her butt was too much for the Raleigh County administrators.
School district officials say it could lead to sexually harassing comments from other students. Nichoel’s mother, Jennifer Hawks, notes Juicy is a brand name of an expensive line of clothing. She says officials didn’t know about the brand and made a mistake by banning her daughter’s skirt.
I think I’m going to side with the school on this one. Their reason is wrong but their action was correct. A slogan obviously meant to be interpreted as the wearer having a juicy ass isn’t appropriate for school. Their vacillating explanation was a poor attempt to deflect their own authority and pass it off as concern for the girl.
(Tip credit to Bumper)
Mom cries foul over drink rule
Five Wyoming area students were convicted of underage drinking. Three of them were suspended from extra-curricular activities, following a district zero-tolerance policy implemented in 2000. Two of them did not receive the prohibition.
Swainbank and Bayard were two of 10 teenagers convicted by District Justice Joseph Carmody of underage drinking at the Exeter party.
Five participate in sports, but only three were suspended under the district’s policy, Williams said. She could not understand how the students could have been found guilty by Carmody and found not in violation of the school policy.
Williams suggested political influence played a role in the decision to allow at least one student to continue in school activities.
“You ought to investigate who was let go and why they were let go,” she said.
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One of the students who was not suspended is a local official’s child.
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Updated 08 September 2004: Jared has been accepted into the class (at bottom of post)
Updated 03 August 2004: The University gives in
Wow…
Republicans call CU class discriminatory
How would you phrase this in PC-lingo? I’m pretty sure it’s not considered polite to simply say “NO WHITES”, though that is exactly what the University of Colorado is doing.
I have been waitlisted for an education class (fulfills core requirements) for a couple months now for the fall semester. I just received an email today from the University of Colorado notifying me that a new section has opened! I thought, great….then I read the email, which is as follows:
�A section of this course is available to anyone who is either a first- generation college student or a student of color.
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Because I am white, I cannot register for classes which help me graduate on time?
Not quite. You would also be excluded if you were an Eskimo or an Asian.
(more…)
Rape should stay a secret, says school
On March 6, a twenty-two year old man raped a fourteen year-old learning disabled student. Another man held her down during the assault. She was told that it was her fault she was raped and that if she told anybody about it she would be hurt. She ended up with a sexually transmitted disease and finally told about the rape when being treated for that infection.
Her mother and grandparents, who are the girl’s guardians, were not told of the assault until they withdrew her from the school in May.
The mother removed the girl because she thought it was behind the mood swings she had suffered in the previous two months.
“She was very withdrawn and running away. She wasn’t the same girl.”
As the mother was getting the leaving form signed off, she was approached by the counselor, who referred her to a doctor, from whom she learned of the rape.
(more…)
