Idiocy in Public Schools .....

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I thought we needed a thread like some of Kor's (Einstein, Parent, etc) devoted specifically to our public schools. Here's one

 

3rd Grader Suspended for Sniffing Shirt with Permanent Marker

 

WESTMINSTER - Eight-year-old Eathen Harris says it happened in writing class last week. That's when he colored a stripe on his shirt with a permanent magic marker.

 

 

But, it's what this 3rd grader did after he colored that landed him in hot water.

 

"I smelled the marker," Harris said.

 

But, what this 8-year-old doesn't know is why he was suspended as a result.

 

"They just suspended me for a day. They didn't even tell me what was wrong," Harris told Fox 31 News.

 

......

myfoxcolorado

 

He was suspended for drug use - apparently if something has a scent you shouldn't sniff it to see what it smells like.

 

And here's a link to an essay about the 4 year old accused of sexual harassment for pinching another student washintonpost I couldn't find the AP story online anymore.

[Kor37 9]

I really don't know what the deal is with these public schools these days. It seems like the people who are running these schools have lost all sense of reality!...

[Kor37 9]

Dad calls from Iraq, son gets suspended

Posted Apr 16th 2008 2:02PM by Roger Sinasohn

Filed under: High school, Family togetherness, Dads, Teenager, 15-19 years, Mobile phones

 

Master Sgt. Morris Hill is serving his country in Iraq, a long way away from his beloved sons back in Texas. Luckily, these days, we have the means for people on opposite sides of the planet to talk to each other in real time, almost without regard to where they actually are. We have cell phones.

 

Unfortunately, the only time Hill could call his son Brandon was during the school day -- a time when students are generally forbidden from using their cell phones. It would seem, however, that this situation would count as extraordinary circumstances and an exception could be made, but administrators disagree. Brandon was suspended for taking the call.

 

"He called me during class, because that's the only time that he could," Brandon said. "I answered the call as I was walking out of class. The teacher followed me out and said, 'Oh what are you doing?' I said my dad was calling from Iraq, and I know he needs to talk to me." Brandon was sent to the office and given a two-day suspension.

 

The odd part is that the father had apparently made an arrangement in advance with the assistant principal to allow his sons to receive calls from him. "He had spoken with Mr. Fletcher," said Pat Hill, the boys' mother. "He thought there was an agreement understood that if he called either Joshua or Brandon at school, that everything was fine."

 

"If this would have been the last phone call from my husband, and he's in trouble for it and then has to deal with something happening to his dad that would be even harder," Mrs. Hill added. "These schools have to stop and realize, especially when you are in a military community, we support our soldiers, we support our troops. What about them when they are in Iraq trying to reach their family?"

 

Mrs. Hill is trying to get the suspension removed from her son's record, but the school says the matter is closed. Whether or not you support the United States' actions overseas, you've got to understand that the soldiers are doing their job and that they and their families are still people -- people who care very much about each other and have a need to stay in contact. It seems to me that the school could be more understanding on that point.

This kind of stuff really burns me up. You just know that this school will receive a ton of criticism and will eventually overturn the suspension anyway so why not just do the right thing in the first place?

[Theunicornhunter 2]

maybe you could move this to the idiocy in public schools ongoing thread.

[Kor37 9]

Specially groomed eyebrows a headache at Oregon high school

AP

Posted: 2008-04-28 23:00:56

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Portland high school is raising eyebrows with its brow grooming policy: shave 'em or go home.

 

Some students at Centennial High School have shaved vertical lines into their eyebrows in a trend recently made popular by hip-hop star Soulja Boy. School officials say the mark looks like a gang symbol.

 

Centennial administrators are telling students with the lines that they can't return to school until they shave their eyebrows off. Assistant Principal Mark Porterfield said the students are not suspended, but they are not allowed in school until they cooperate.

 

Four students have been sent home. One returned with a bandage covering the shaved brow.

 

Police say gangs have co-opted the trend for their own use, with one gang's members marking themselves by shaving one line into an eyebrow and three lines in the other to symbolize 13.

 

"We don't dictate policy for any schools," Officer David Schmidt of the East Multnomah County Gang Enforcement Team said. "We just tell them what we see the latest trends are. This is a way for them to identify each other. In a school setting, it intimidates other kids."

 

Andy Gonzalez, a junior at Centennial with one vertical line shaved down his brow, was studying for a test when a security guard approached him and said, "If you're going to come to school like that, don't come at all."

 

Gonzalez, 17, says he isn't in a gang and shaved the lines to look cool and impress girls. But he says he'd be humiliated if he had to shave his brows off.

 

Centennial implemented the rules about the eyebrows after other area high schools did, but other schools say they only look for the markings of the 13 style.

I think making the students shave their eyebrows is a bit extreme.....

[trekz 7]

I agree it seems extreme to ask a student to shave off their eyebrow. On the other hand, gang influence should be kept out of school as much as possible. It's a huge problem in Chicago, with too many kids being killed in gang crossfire.

 

I also am so old that it would never occur to me that shaving a line in one's eyebrow would be cool. :) I also feel strongly that a student's job is to be a student and study, not be a fashion model or obey every fad just to be "cool."

[Kor37 9]

Swedish school confiscates boy's party invitations

AP

Posted: 2008-06-29 15:10:39

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - A school has confiscated an 8-year-old boy's birthday party invitations after they were handed out during class because it said it had a duty to ensure against discrimination.

 

The boy handed out invitations to classmates at his school in Lund, southern Sweden, but did not invite two boys because they were not his friends, the Sydsvenskan newspaper reported earlier this week.

 

The school, 360 miles south of Stockholm, confiscated all the invitations, saying it objected because it had a duty to ensure against discrimination.

 

The report on Friday did not name the boy or his family. It said the boy's father has filed a complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman.

 

The father told the newspaper that the two classmates were not invited because one had bullied his son and the other had not invited his son to the classmate's birthday party.

 

"My son has taken it very hard," the father told Sydsvenskan of the school's decision. "It's like taking someone's mail."

 

The parliamentary ombudsman has asked the school board to decide on the issue before Sept. 8.

[Odie 0]

Swedish school confiscates boy's party invitations

AP

Posted: 2008-06-29 15:10:39

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - A school has confiscated an 8-year-old boy's birthday party invitations after they were handed out during class because it said it had a duty to ensure against discrimination.

 

The boy handed out invitations to classmates at his school in Lund, southern Sweden, but did not invite two boys because they were not his friends, the Sydsvenskan newspaper reported earlier this week.

 

The school, 360 miles south of Stockholm, confiscated all the invitations, saying it objected because it had a duty to ensure against discrimination.

 

The report on Friday did not name the boy or his family. It said the boy's father has filed a complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman.

 

The father told the newspaper that the two classmates were not invited because one had bullied his son and the other had not invited his son to the classmate's birthday party.

 

"My son has taken it very hard," the father told Sydsvenskan of the school's decision. "It's like taking someone's mail."

 

The parliamentary ombudsman has asked the school board to decide on the issue before Sept. 8.

 

When I went to school it was policy if you where going to send party invitations in your classroom you had to invite everyone or none at all. If the person was to leave out current classmates they would have send the invites in the mail. Sending invites to the classroom is not mail.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I have to agree with the school on this one - you have every right to invite who you want to your party - but it is not the school's responsibility to save you on the cost of postage. That is a horrible thing to do a child announce a party that everyone but them is invited to.

[Kor37 9]

Missing money leads to seventh grade strip-search

by Sandy Maple Oct 7th 2008 4:00PM

 

Last week, when a student at Trinity Lutheran School in Monroe, Michigan found she was missing $42, the principal of the school assumed the money must have been stolen. Determined to find the thief, principal John Hilken ordered teachers to strip-search a group of 7th grade girls.

 

According to one mom, this treatment was uncalled for and she and others have filed police complaints. "Some were taken down to their bra and panties and some had to pull their tops out and shake them," said Martha Feller, whose daughter was among the stripped and searched suspects. "They treat criminals like that, not 12-year-old innocent children," she said.

 

[Ian Wood 1]

Wow... So, that's pretty ridiculous. I don't think what I would've ever imagined anything like that happening while I was in school..